polls

1. 1
   noun

   The places where citizens cast their votes during an election.

   Turnout at the polls exceeded expectations across the country.

   She headed to the polls right after dropping the kids at school.

   Note

   Election-day vocabulary, nearly always plural and nearly always with the: voters go to the polls, the polls open and close, a party is beaten at the polls. The phrase names the act as much as the building, so going to the polls simply means voting. A single site is a polling place or polling station. Polls on its own rarely points to one address.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of poll.

   National polls suggested a tight race in the final weeks.

   The campaign tracked dozens of polls throughout the summer.

   Note

   One spelling covers every kind of poll: opinion surveys, formal votes, vote tallies, even heads. A poll is also a head, and a crowd can be reckoned as a head count, which shows why the word is about counting people. In everyday writing, plural polls usually means surveys (the polls tightened). With the article and a verb of motion, as in going to the polls, it means the places where people vote.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of poll.

   The newspaper polls its readers on local issues each month.

   Each spring, the company polls employees about workplace conditions.

   Note

   The -s form shares its spelling with the plural noun, so syntax decides: after a singular subject it is a verb. Most often it takes an object, as when a newspaper polls its readers. A candidate can also be said to poll votes, meaning to draw them in. A shearer polls an animal by clipping its hair.

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