Dictionary

Stobie pole en · NOUN

Etymology

From Stobie (“surname”) + pole, after the inventor, James Cyril Stobie.

Meanings

1. (Australia, South) A pole for supporting power lines, consisting of a tapered slab of concrete bracketed by steel joists.
   • The estimated life of the Stobie pole is forty-five years, without any maintenance but coating with bitumen at the ground line. 1927, Physical Society of London, Institution of Electrical Engineers, Science Abstracts, page 45:
   • However, the lack of trees in South Australia severely constrained the use of timber and led to the early and widespread use of a steel-concrete composite pole, called a Stobie pole after its designer. Stobie poles have been a distinguishing feature of the South Australian landscape for many decades. 2008, Graeme Dandy, David Walker, Trevor Daniell, Robert Warner, Planning and Design of Engineering Systems, Second Edition, page 68:
   • He stood behind an old and dilapidated Stobie pole and eyed me and my pushbike. 1985, Tad Sobolewski, Crossing the Bridges, page 76:
   • Pepe, at ten years old, had just stolen his first car, a blue VW parked up the street. He was too small to reach the brake pedal and pranged it into a stobie pole. 1993, Patti Walkuski, David Harris, No Bed Of Roses: Memoirs of a Madam, page 243:

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