From Balti پولو (polo, “ball”). Cognate with Tibetan པོ་ལོ (po lo), ཕོ་ལོང (pho long), སྤོ་ལོ (spo lo, “ball”).
Meanings
(uncountable, usually) A ball game where two teams of players on horseback use long-handled mallets to propel the ball along the ground and into their opponent's goal.
There were polo fields – sometimes green, sometimes brown – where in the old days, people had actually played that strange game that seems like a drunken bet about golf and horse riding. 2019, Namwali Serpell, The Old Drift, Hogarth, page 227:
(uncountable, usually) The game of ice polo, one of the ancestors of ice hockey; a similar game played on the ice, or on a prepared floor, by players wearing skates.
(countable, usually) A polo shirt.
Then on the second floor there is the creepy boy’s section, which had little headless mannequins in premium polos ($39.50), rugby shirts ($49.50) and a precocious leather pilot jacket for $148. 2007 February 22, Mike Albo, “Outfitters to Presidents, Preppies, Me”, in New York Times:
From Spanish, an air or popular song in Andalusia.
Meanings
A Spanish gypsy dance characterized by energetic movements of the body while the feet merely shuffle or glide, with unison singing and rhythmic clapping of hands.
The importance of Nowruz is reflected in an elaborate sabzi polo, the herbed rice capped with a crunchy tahdig, the crust formed from lettuce, rice mixed with yogurt or lavash or another thin flatbread. On Wednesday night, I opted for sheveed polo, a simpler and quicker dill rice, but I can’t wait to nail that crunchy tahdig tonight. 2026 March 15, Genevieve Ko, “‘This Is the Best Dish I Have Ever Made From NYT Cooking’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 15 Mar 2026: