poll

poll

1. the casting, recording, or counting of votes in an election; a voting

2. the result or quantity of such a voting

3. short for poll tax

4. a list or enumeration of people, esp for taxation or voting purposes

5. the striking face of a hammer

6. the occipital or back part of the head of an animal

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

poll

The broad end or striking face of a hammer.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

poll

To check the status of an input line, sensor, or memory location to see if a particular external event has been registered.

Contrast interrupt.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

polling

(1) A communications technique that determines when a terminal is ready to send data. The computer continually interrogates all connected terminals in a round robin sequence. If a terminal has data to send, it transmits an acknowledgment before the data transfer begins. Contrast with an interrupt-driven system, in which the terminal generates a signal when it has data to send.

(2) A technique that continually interrogates a peripheral device to see if it has data to transfer. For example, if a mouse button was pressed or if data are available at a communications port. Contrast with event-driven or interrupt-driven techniques, in which the operating system generates a signal and interrupts the system. See interrupt.

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