ballot

Borrowed from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta (“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla (“bale, bundle”) + -otta (suffix forming diminutive nouns); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte (“small ball used to register a vote”) (also compare Middle French balotiage, French ballottage (“second ballot, runoff”)); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *ballu (“ball”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbælət/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbælət/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bal‧lot
• Rhymes: -ælət

ballot (plural ballots)

1. Originally, a small ball placed in a container to cast a vote; now, by extension, a piece of paper or card used for this purpose, or some other means used to signify a vote.
2. The process of voting, especially in secret; a round of voting.
   • July 1836, A. B. (initials of author), London and Westminster Review Article XI, Bribery and Intimidation at Elections

     the insufficiency of the ballot

   • 2023 March 9, Mel Holley, “TSSA accepts offer, but RMT sets new strike dates”, in RAIL, number 978, page 11:

     In the TSSA ballot, 80% of management grade and 60% of general grade members voted to accept, on an overall turnout of 57%.

3. The total of all the votes cast in an election.
4. (chiefly US) A list of candidates running for office; a ticket.

• (paper or card used to cast a vote): ballot paper, voting slip

ballot (third-person singular simple present ballots, present participle balloting, simple past and past participle balloted)

1. (intransitive) To vote or decide by ballot.

   to ballot for a candidate

2. (intransitive) To draw lots.
3. (transitive) To invite to vote on a proposal.

   The trade union balloted its members for strike action.

• reballot

• blackballing (also derived from the old practice of using balls to vote)

• ballot on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From balle +‎ -ot.

• IPA^(key): /ba.lo/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o

ballot m (plural ballots)

1. bundle, package
2. (informal, derogatory) fool, nitwit

• C’est ballot

• “ballot”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈpalloh(t)/

ballot

1. first-person plural imperative of ballat