Etymology: < Anglo-Norman polein drag for wine casks, pulley (c1300 or earlier) and Middle French polain, polin, poulain kind of chute made of beams, used for lowering barrels into a cellar or for unloading them from a wagon (13th cent. in Old French; French poulain ), transferred uses of poulain foal: see poleyn n.² Compare post-classical Latin polenus slide for lowering casks (1198 in a British source; also as pulinus , pullanus (1236, 1241 respectively in British sources); < Old French). Compare pulley n.¹, pulley n.²The word apparently denoted quite different types of apparatus in Anglo-Norman and in Middle French; the sense in Anglo-Norman (and hence in a number of the English examples) was apparently influenced by association with pulley n.¹ In many cases it is unclear precisely which type of apparatus is denoted. In quot. 1295 the word occurs as a vernacular word in a Latin context; it is conceivable that it could here show the Anglo-Norman rather than the Middle English word, but it is notable that the other vernacular words in the sentence are all English.

Etymology: Origin unknown.