Pool

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -uːl
• Homophones: Poole

From Middle English pool, pole, pol, from Old English pōl ("pool"), from Proto-Germanic *pōlaz ("pool, pond"), from Proto-Indo-European *bale- ("bog, marsh"). Cognate with Scots puil ("pool"), Saterland Frisian Pol ("pool"), West Frisian poel ("pool"), Dutch poel ("pool"), Low German Pohl, Pul ("pool"), German Pfuhl ("quagmire, mudhole"), Danish pøl ("puddle"), Swedish pöl ("puddle, pool"), Icelandic pollur ("puddle"), Lithuanian bala ("bog, marsh, swamp, pool"), Latvian bala ("a muddly, treeless depression"), Russian болото (boloto, "swamp, bog, marsh").

Noun

1. A small and rather deep collection of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream; a reservoir for water.the pools of Solomon
• unknown date Francis Bacon:Charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool.
• unknown date Alfred, Lord Tennyson:The sleepy pool above the dam.
2. A small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
• unknown date William Shakespeare:The filthy mantled pool beyond your cell.
3. A swimming pool.
4. A supply of resources.

Derived terms

• swimming pool
• tidepool
• whirlpool

Descendants

• Japanese: プール

French poule ("collective stakes in a game") (The OED suggests that this may be a transferred use of poule ("hen"), which has been explained anecdotally as deriving from an old informal betting game in France - 'jeu de poule' - Game of Chicken (or Hen, literally) in which poule became synonymous with the combined money pot claimed by the winner)

Full definition of pool

Noun

1. (uncountable) 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; a game of skill in pocketing the balls on a pool table.
• unknown date William Makepeace Thackeray:He plays pool at the billiard houses.
2. 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.
3. Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join.
4. 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.
5. 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.The pool took all the wheat offered below the limit.He put $10,000 into the pool.
6. (rail transport) A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.
7. (legal) An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities.

Derived terms

• blind pool
• bumper pool
• carpool
• cesspool
• dirty pool
• gene pool
• kelly pool
• motor pool
• pool hall
• pool table
• poolroom
• tidal pool
• vanpool

Verb

1. (transitive) 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; as, the companies pooled their traffic
• unknown date Grant:Finally, it favors the pooling of all issues.
2. (intransitive) to combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction

Anagrams

• loop
• OOPL
• polo