English Explanatory Dictionary

pool

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A small and rather deep area of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream or river; a reservoir for water.
  2. Any small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
  3. Ellipsis of swimming pool.
  4. A set of resources that are kept ready to use.
  5. Any group of like things.
  6. A small amount of liquid on a surface.
  7. A localized glow of light.
verb
  1. To form a pool.
noun
  1. A supply of resources.
  2. A number of people when considered as a resource.
  3. A game at billiards, in which each of the players stakes a certain sum, the winner taking the whole; also, in public billiard rooms, a game in which the loser pays the entrance fee for all who engage in the game.
  4. A cue sport played on a pool table. There are 15 balls, 7 of one colour or solids, 7 of another color or stripes, and the black ball (also called the 8 ball). A player must pocket all their own colour balls and then the black ball in order to win.
  5. In rifle shooting, a contest in which each competitor pays a certain sum for every shot he makes, the net proceeds being divided among the winners.
  6. A group of fencers taking part in a competition.
  7. A set of teams playing each other in the same division, while not during the same period playing any teams that belong to other sets in the division.
  8. Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join.
  9. The stake played for in certain games of cards, billiards, etc.; an aggregated stake to which each player has contributed a share; also, the receptacle for the stakes.
  10. A combination of persons contributing money to be used for the purpose of increasing or depressing the market price of stocks, grain, or other commodities; also, the aggregate of the sums so contributed.
  11. A set of players in quadrille etc.
  12. A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.
verb
  1. To put together; contribute to a common fund, on the basis of a mutual division of profits or losses; to make a common interest of.
  2. To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction.
name
  1. A village in Carn Brea parish, Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SW6641).
  2. Ellipsis of Pool-in-Wharfedale.
  3. A civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, also known as Pool in Wharfedale.
  4. An unincorporated community in Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States.
  5. A department of the Republic of the Congo.

Pronunciation

/puːl/ /pul/ /pʉl/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pool.wav

Word forms

pool pools poole pooling pooled

Etymology

From Middle English pool, pole, pol, from Old English pōl (“pool”), from Proto-West Germanic pōl, from Proto-Germanic *pōlaz (“pool, pond”), from Proto-Indo-European *bōlos (“bog, marsh”). Cognate with Scots puil (“pool”), Saterland Frisian Pol (“pool”), West Frisian poel (“pool”), Dutch poel (“pool”), German Low German Pohl, Pool, Pul (“pool”), German Pfuhl (“quagmire, mudhole”), Danish pøl (“puddle”), Swedish pöl (“puddle, pool”), Icelandic pollur (“puddle”), Lithuanian bala (“puddle”), Latvian bala (“a muddly, treeless depression”), Russian боло́то (bolóto, “swamp, bog, marsh”). For the meaning development to a supply of resources compare typologically Russian пруд пруди́ (prud prudí) (< пруд (prud)).

Synonyms

poule group

Derived words

ball pool bank pool birthing pool black pool brine pool Bromborough Pool cow pool dark pool dead pool death pool drop the kiddies off at the pool drop the kids off at the pool everlasting pool fishpool flood pool football pool hot pool infinity-edge pool infinity pool jury pool kiddie pool lap-pool lap pool liquidity pool mere pool micropool millpool mining pool minus pool moon pool moon-pool mud pool multipool nigger pool object pool pattern overflow pool paddling pool patent pool pin pool plunge pool pocket-pool pocket pool pool at the crook poolboy pool boy pool chair pool diaper poolfish poolful poolgoer poolhouse pool house poolless pool-like Pool Malebo pool nappy pool noodle pool of death pool party pool reporter
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