▪ I. polled, a.
(pəʊld)
[f. poll n.1 + -ed2.]
(In comb.) Having a poll or head of a specified form or appearance, as curly-polled.
| 1795 Fate of Sedley I. 59, I would as soon marry a curly-poled nymph from Otaheite. |
▪ II. polled, ppl. a.
(pəʊld)
Also 4 pollid, 6 poulde, 6–7 pold(e, 7 powled, poled.
[f. poll v. + -ed1.]
† 1. Having the hair cut short; shorn, shaven; also of the hair: cut off, clipped. Obs.
| 13.. K. Alis. 216 Neptanabus in theo way stod, With pollid hed, and of his hod. 1388 Wyclif Job i. 20 Thanne Ioob roos, and to-rente hise clothis, and with pollid heed [1382 hed shauen: Vulg. tonso capite] he felde doun on the erthe. 1555 Eden Decades 299 Men of meane stature, with roughe and thyck beardes and poulde heade. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (1622) 187 These polled lockes of mine. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. viii. (1653) 144 In the Province Cusco,..are those Auriti or great Ear'd Men,..who alwaies goe poled. |
2. Hornless; having shed or been deprived of horns; of a hornless breed.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 490 The horned Beast..is apter to fight then the pold Sheep, and also more luxurious among the Ewes. 1758 R. Brown Compl. Farmer (1759) 32 The polled sheep (that is sheep without horns) are reckoned the best breeders. 1835 Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. I. ii. 59 Some varieties of the common ox are polled. 1842 [see Angus]. 1867 W. McCombie Cattle iv. 138 Mr. Lyell..has a very good herd of polled Angus cattle. 1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xxxii. 415 Polled Angus cattle have come very rapidly into favour during the last few years. 1902 Times 13 Mar. 6/1 A herd of Red Polled cattle. 1909 J. Wilson Evolution of Brit. Cattle v. 57 The Sutherland polled cattle are long extinct. 1940 J. Hammond Farm Animals viii. 149 If we mate a polled red Aberdeen Angus bull to a Shorthorn cow we shall obtain polled calves. 1976 Cumberland & Westmorland Herald 4 Dec. 16/2 (Advt.), Fortnightly sale of Friesian, Hereford cross, Charolais' cross and polled bullocks and heifers of all ages. |
3. Of trees: Pollarded.
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Fustée, Bois de fustée, branchlesse wood; naked, or powled trees. 1882 Mrs. Raven's Tempt. I. 213 Standing behind a row of polled trees. |
† 4. Of wheat: Awnless, not bearded. Obs. dial.
| 1765 Museum Rust. IV. lxiii. 285, I wish I had it in my power to satisfy E. S. concerning the pollard wheat he mentions; but I can learn nothing of it, unless it is a bearded great wheat, which, in Suffolk, they formerly let stand in the field till the awns dropped off, and then they called it poll'd wheat. |
† 5. Plundered, pillaged. Obs.
| 1538 Elyot, Compilati, polled by extorcion. 1552 Huloet, Polled or brybed, compilatus, exactus. |
† 6. polled deed = poll deed. Obs.
| 1706 Phillips, Polled Deed. See Deed-poll. |
7. Comb., as polled-headed adj.
| 1583 Foxe A. & M. 1268/1 A man of talle stature, polled headed, and on the same a rounde Frenche cappe of the best. |