ψῆφος
Alt. ψῆφος, doricψᾶφος, ἡ,
Etym. ψάω
I. "a small stone, a pebble, rubbed and rounded" in river-beds or on the sea-shore, Lat. calculus, Pind., Hdt.
II. "a pebble used for reckoning, a counter", ψήφοις λογίζεσθαι to calculate "by arithmetic, to cipher", Hdt.; hence "to reckon exactly or accurately", Ar.; ἐν ψήφῳ λέγειν Aesch.:— in pl. "accounts", καθαραὶ ψῆφοι an exact balance, Dem.
2. "a pebble used for playing at draughts", Plat.
3. "a pebble used in voting", which was thrown into the voting-urn (ὑδρία), Hdt., attic; ψῆφον φέρειν to give "one's vote", Lat. suffragium ferre, Aesch., etc.; so, ψῆφον τίθεσθαι Hdt.:— ψήφῳ κρίνειν, διακρίνειν to determine "by vote", Thuc., etc.:—in collective sense, ψ. γίγνεται περί τινος "a vote" is taken, Antipho.; ἡ σώζουσα, ἡ καθαιροῦσα ψῆφος "the vote" of acquittal, of condemnation, Lys., Dem.:— τὴν ψῆφον ἐπάγειν to put "the vote or question", like ἐπιψηφίζειν, Thuc. b. "that which is carried by vote", ψ. καταγνώσεως "a vote" of condemnation, Thuc.; ψῆφος περὶ φυγῆς "a vote" of banishment, Xen. c. "any resolve or decree", e. g. of a king, Soph.; λιθίνα ψᾶφος "a decree" written on stone, Pind.; διδοῖ ψᾶφον παρ᾽ αὐτᾶς [the oak] gives "judgment" of itself, id=Pind. d. ψῆφος Ἀθηνᾶς, "calculus Minervae", a proverb. phrase to express "acquittal".—the vote by ψῆφος, "ballot", must be distinguished from that by κύαμος, "lot;" the former being used in "trials, the latter in" "elections."
4. the place of voting (as πεσσοί for the place of play), Eur.