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.