polled

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of poll.

   The agency polled two thousand adults about the proposed law.

   Most residents were polled about the location of the new park.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs here: the simple past (the agency polled two thousand adults) and the participle after have or be (they have polled; residents were polled). Behind it stand two verbs in one. The voting verb is transitive when you poll a group and intransitive when you poll at an election. The cutting verb means to crop, clip or shear, and it lies behind the lopped-tree adjective and the hornless-livestock sense.

2. 2
   adjective

   Without horns; describing livestock that would normally grow horns but have been bred hornless or had their horns removed.

   Ranchers increasingly prefer polled breeds, which spare them the labor of dehorning.

   A polled heifer can carry the gene that keeps her offspring hornless.

   Similarhornless

   Oppositehorned

3. 3
   adjective

   Cut back at the top; describing a tree whose upper branches and crown have been removed.

   The polled oak put out a thick crown of fresh growth each spring.

   Gardeners kept the limes polled to control their height near the houses.

   Similarpollarded, topped

4. 4
   adjective

   Closely cropped or bald; having the hair cut very short or shaved off.

   The monk's polled scalp marked his place within the order.

   She kept her hair polled close to the skin all summer.

   Similarshaven, shorn, cropped

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