- a long thin straight piece of wood or metal, especially one with the end placed in the ground, used as a support
- a tent pole
- a ski pole
- a curtain pole
Extra Examples- A punt is a boat that you move by pushing a long pole against the bottom of the river.
- I stood resting on my ski poles and watched her come down the slope.
- The tent poles are made of aluminium
- a fishing pole
- either of the two points at the opposite ends of the line on which the earth or any other planet turns
- the North/South Pole
- The meridian is an imaginary line drawn from pole to pole.
- The north magnetic pole lies to the west of the geographic North Pole.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- North
- South
- geographic
- …
- between the (two) poles of
- from pole to pole
- be poles apart
- (physics) either of the two ends of a magnet, or the positive or negative points of an electric battery see also magnetic pole (2)Topics Physics and chemistryc2Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
- North
- South
- geographic
- …
- between the (two) poles of
- from pole to pole
- be poles apart
- either of two opposite or very different extremes
- Their opinions were at opposite poles of the debate.
- an artistic compromise between the poles of abstraction and representation
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- North
- South
- geographic
- …
- between the (two) poles of
- from pole to pole
- be poles apart
Word Originnoun sense 1 and up the pole. late Old English pāl (in early use without reference to thickness or length), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch paal and German Pfahl, based on Latin palus ‘stake’. noun senses 2 to 4 and be poles apart. late Middle English: from Latin polus ‘end of an axis’, from Greek polos ‘pivot, axis, sky’.
Idioms
See pole in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee pole in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbe poles apart
- to be widely separated; to have no interests that you share
- Her own friends were poles apart from his.
- In temperament, she and her sister are poles apart.
the greasy pole
- (informal) used to refer to the difficult way to the top of a profession
not touch somebody/something with a ten-foot pole (North American English)
(British English not touch somebody/something with a bargepole)
- (informal) to refuse to get involved with somebody/something or in a particular situation
- Personally, I wouldn’t touch him or his business with a ten-foot pole.
up the pole
- (British English, old-fashioned, informal) crazy
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pole