Middle English Dictionary Entry
pollen v.
Entry Info
| Forms | pollen v. Also polle, pole, pul; p.ppl. polled, ipolled, (in place name) pollet. |
| Etymology | From polle n. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) To cut the hair of (sb.), shave (someone's head); ppl. polled, of persons or their heads: having the hair cropped or shorn; also, tonsured; polled hed; (b) ppl. polled, of trees: trimmed, cut, topped; (c) in place names [see Smith PNElem. 2.69].
Associated quotations
a
- a1325 SLeg.(Corp-C 145)124/82,86 : He sei a lite blac polled grom nyme þe monk bi þe sleue..Þe pollede boye vlei anon.
- (c1384) WBible(1) (Dc 369(2))1 Cor.11.6 : Forsoth it is oon, as ȝif sche be maad ballid, pollid, or clippid.
- a1400 Ancr.(Pep 2498)183/28 : Ȝe..beþ ypolled [Corp-C: idoddet] in þe ȝere fiftene siþes.
- c1400(?a1300) KAlex.(LdMisc 622)216 : Neptanabus in þe weye stood myd polled [LinI: pollid] heued.
- c1400 Dream Bk.(2) (Sln 1609)60 : To haue a pollid hed be-toknith disseyt.
- a1425(c1333-52) Minot Poems (Glb E.9)25/131 : Inglis men sall..mak þe polled like a frere.
- a1425(c1395) WBible(2) (Roy 1.C.8)Gen.41.14 : Thei polliden [WB(1): clyppiden; L totonderunt] Joseph led out of prisoun.
- a1425(c1395) WBible(2) (Roy 1.C.8)Job 1.20 : Joob..to-rente hise clothis, and with pollid [WB(1): shauen; L tonso] heed he felde doun on the erthe.
- (1439) LRed Bk.Bristol2.153 : Dyuers Craftes as Taillours, Weuers..and others..contynuelly vseth dayly forto shave and forto polle dyuers peple of the seid toune.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)407 : Pollyd, or forcyd: Capitonsus.
- c1450 Jacob's W.(Sal 103)101/16 : Sche pollyd here hevyd priuely.
- (a1460) Bokenham Sts. (Adv Abbotsford B3)139.80 (v.2:p.388) : She .. ran to the autyr .. and sweuyd [?read: sheuyd] hyre pollyd heed and seyde pleynly that she wolde not turnyn ageyn to the vomyt.
- (a1464) Capgr.Chron.(Cmb Gg.4.12)234 : Every abbot mitred and polled schuld pay for every monkis hed xl d.
b
- (1447-8) Shillingford85 fn. : A tree callyd an elme by one Andrew Chalvedon..ys pollyd, pared, and kut.
- (1458) Visit.St.Paul in Camd.n.s.55112 : Item, querelatur de xxij elmys loppid et pollyd extra viam processionis..iiij s.
c
- (1283) in Wallenberg PNKent82 : Polledefeld.
- (1418) EPNSoc.6 (Sus.)197 : Le Pollet trew.
- (1430) EPNSoc.6 (Sus.)197 : Polledetrow.
2.
?To count (sheep).
Associated quotations
- a1500(a1460) Towneley Pl.(Hnt HM 1)105/154 : Many shepe can she poll, bot oone had she ay.
3.
?To fit (a horse) with some device such as a martingale to check or control the movement of its head.
Associated quotations
- c1400(?a1387) PPl.C (Hnt HM 137)5.23 : Sette my sadel vppon soffre-til-ich-see-my-tyme..Let peitrel hym and pole [vr. pul] hym with peyntede wittes.