a HackerNoon project
Original · left

Poll (survey or vote)

Conducting an opinion survey or recording registered votes during a political election.

First in use: the 1600s
Duplicate · right

Polling (computing)

Continuously querying an external device, client, or database table at fixed intervals to verify status changes.

First in use: the 1960s

Poll / Poll (survey or vote) / Polling (computing)

Loading data…
Canonical todayMeasuring…
Status—
Duplicate share · 12 mo—
Last crossover—
Colour keyGrey · original meaningGreen · duplicate meaningAmber · contested (40–60%)How colours work

Election polls vs. busy-wait loops.

Which meaning of Poll is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Poll (survey or vote) came first (the 1600s). Polling (computing) arrived in the 1960s. The data below shows which one owns the word now.

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Poll (survey or vote)Polling (computing)
English Wikipedia pageviews since July 2015 load here.

Duplicate's share of attention

Green line = duplicate's % · above 60 it owns the word · below 40 the original does

Share-of-attention line loads here.

The case for each meaning

Sourced definitions, usage stats and quotes

Original · the 1600s

Poll (survey or vote)

Loading the Wikipedia definition…

12-mo pageviews—
Year over year—
Peak month—
Duplicate · the 1960s

Polling (computing)

Loading the Wikipedia definition…

12-mo pageviews—
Year over year—
Peak month—

More duplicated terms

Programming & software