Poller

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who gathers opinions or votes through interviews or questionnaires ; a device or program that repeatedly checks for updates or information from a system
2. Someone who conducts public opinion surveys or electoral polls ; a system component that periodically monitors or retrieves data from another source
3. An individual who collects responses from respondents in a survey ; software or hardware that continuously queries a device or process to obtain current status

Etymology: "Poller" is simply "poll" with the agent suffix "-er" added, meaning one who polls. The suffix itself has a long pedigree: it passed from Latin "-arius," through Old French "-ier," into Middle English as "-er," and it is the same ending found in words like "baker" and "writer." The "-er" ending is no later invention than the base word, so the word is a plain compound of a familiar verb-noun and an old, productive suffix. The base "poll" carries a more surprising history. It was originally a word for the head, and its later senses about voting, opinion and surveys developed from the idea of counting heads. Polling, in the sense of recording votes one person at a time, is what gave the word its modern association with elections and public opinion.

Synonyms: pollster, surveyor