vote

noun

1. A formalized choice on legally relevant measures such as employment or appointment to office or a proceeding about a legal dispute.

   “The city council decided the matter should go to public vote.”

   “Parliament will hold a vote of confidence regarding the minister.”

   “One occasion indicative votes were used was in 2003 when MPs were presented with seven different options on how to reform the House of Lords.”

   “Friday’s vote has permanently redefined the kilogram and sent Le Grand K into retirement.”

2. An act or instance of participating in such a choice, e.g., by submitting a ballot.

   “The Supreme Court upheld the principle of one person, one vote.”

   “There breathes no being but has some pretence / To that fine instinct called poetic sense; […] / The freeman, casting with unpurchased hand / The vote that shakes the turrets of the land.”

   “As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.”

   “It is important to ensure that shareholders who engage with an investee company by voting know whether their votes have been correctly taken into account. Confirmation of receipt of votes should be provided in the case of electronic voting. In addition, each shareholder who casts a vote in a general meeting should at least have the possibility to verify after the general meeting whether the vote has been validly recorded and counted by the company.”

   “If you vote once, you're considered a good citizen. If you vote twice, you face four years in jail.”

3. (obsolete)An ardent wish or desire; a vow; a prayer.

   “Jol[ante]. In you, Sir, / I live; and when, or by the Courſe of Nature, / Or Violence you muſt fall, the End of my / Devotions is, that one and the ſame Hour / May make us fit for Heaven. // Server. I join with you / In my votes that way: […]”

4. (obsolete)A formalized petition or request.
5. (obsolete)Any judgment of intellect leading to a formal opinion, a point of view.
6. Any judgment of intellect leading not only to a formal opinion but also to a particular choice in a legally relevant measure, a point of view as published.

   “dissenting vote (i.e. in particular the differing opinion published with a judicial judgment considered as a source of information)”

7. A person from Votia or of Votic descent.

verb

1. (intransitive)To cast a vote; to assert a formalized choice in an election.

   “Q: Did you vote last month? A: Yes. I voted for John Smith, and it's a shame that he lost; you can't blame me for the mess we're in now.”

   “The directors voted on the question of whether to increase the R&D spending.”

   “To vote on large principles, to vote bravely, requires a great amount of information.”

   “The Violence against Women Act was not distinct from the Crime Bill but an integral part of it. […] Sanders has subsequently cited the inclusion of the VAWA as his reason for voting for the overall bill, on the rather Bidenian principle that the perfect should not be the enemy of the good.”

   “Americans voted for deportations when a plurality backed Donald Trump – who’d spoken openly about his plans on the trail – last November. But they didn’t necessarily vote for this.”

2. (transitive)To choose or grant (some objective) by means of a vote, or by general consent.

   “The directors voted an increase in R&D spending.”

   “The meal was voted a great success.”

3. (transitive)To exercise one's voting right upon (a ballot or a share of stock).

   “vote your ballot”

   “vote your shares”

   “Please vote your ballot using black or blue ink, then seal your ballot inside the privacy envelope.”

   “The depository may vote shares on behalf of investors who have not submitted instruction to the bank.”

   “Sixteen years after the landing on Plymouth Rock, the general court of Massachusetts voted a sum, equal to a year’s rate ol the whole colony, towards the erection of a college.”