Pollard Meaning
/ˈpɒl.əd/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA pruned tree; the wood of such trees.
nameA surname transferred from the nickname.
Sentence Examples
They decided to pollard the old willow trees along the river.
A pollard tree has its top branch cut back to promote growth.
The gardeners decided to pollard the willow trees.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The gardener pruned the old ____ to promote new branches and growth.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The gardener ____ the willow trees each spring to encourage new growth and maintain their shape.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English poll (“head”) + the pejorative suffix -ard (“person characterized by or associated with something, often in a negative way”). The suffix has the same meaning as in drunkard and coward.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The enclosure was indeed little beyond that of a good-sized paddock – its boundaries were visible on every side – but swelling uplands, covered with massy foliage sloped down to its wild irregular turf soil – soil poor for pasturage, but pleasant to the eye; with dell and dingle, bosks of fantastic pollards – dotted oaks of vast growth – here and there a weird hollow thorn-tree – patches of fern and gorse."
— 1857, Pisistratus Caxton [pseudonym; Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter I, in What will He Do with It? (Collection of British Authors; CCCCVII), Tauchnitz edition, volume I, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, →OCLC, book II, page 140:
"Only a little pollard hedge kept us from their blood-shot eyes."
— 1869, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, “Chapter 65”, in Lorna Doone:
"Nothing was to be seen save flat meadows, cows feeding unconcernedly for the most part, and silvery pollard willows motionless in the warm sunlight."
— 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 98:
"I didn't know one could pollard elms. I thought one only pollarded willows."
— 1910, Edward Morgan Forster, chapter 11, in Howards End:
"As well as coppicing, other trees were pollarded, or lopped about 6 ft up the trunk so that the resulting growth was beyond the reach of grazing animals. Pollarding lengthens the life of trees, and the frequently made estimate '1,000 years old' could well be true of some sturdy old trunks."
— 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 118:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The gardener pruned the old ____ to promote new branches and growth.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The gardener ____ the willow trees each spring to encourage new growth and maintain their shape.