poles

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of pole.

   Surveyors planted marker poles across the muddy field.

   The flags hung from tall metal poles outside the stadium.

   Note

   A regular plural that covers every kind of long shaft, from fence and flag poles to fishing poles and the vaulter's poles. It also counts an old measure of length equal to a rod, five and a half yards, so a distance could once be given in poles. The same spelling serves as the verb's present form (the gondolier poles), and only the sentence tells them apart.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular present of pole.

   The gondolier poles the narrow craft between the old stone bridges.

   She poles the punt steadily upstream while the others rest.

   Note

   The present-tense form for he, she or it, and most of its uses take a direct object: she poles the punt upstream, a glassmaker poles the molten batch, a player poles the ball. The pushing sense can stand alone (he poles along the bank), but the senses of furnishing, carrying or stirring with poles always name what they act on.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2