Adjacent Words

Pool definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

POOL, n. [L. palus; Gr. probably from setting, standing, like L. stagnum, or from issuing, as a spring.]
A small collection of water in a hollow place, supplied by a spring, and discharging its surplus water by an outlet. It is smaller than a lake, and in New England is never confounded with pond or lake. It signifies with us, a spring with a small basin or reservoir on the surface of the earth. It is used by writers with more latitude, and sometimes signifies a body of stagnant water.
POOL

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an excavation that is (usually) filled with water
2: a small lake; "the pond was too small for sailing" [syn: pond, pool]
3: an organization of people or resources that can be shared; "a car pool"; "a secretarial pool"; "when he was first hired he was assigned to the pool"
4: an association of companies for some definite purpose [syn: consortium, pool, syndicate]
5: any communal combination of funds; "everyone contributed to the pool"
6: a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid; "there were puddles of muddy water in the road after the rain"; "the body lay in a pool of blood" [syn: pool, puddle]
7: the combined stakes of the betters [syn: pool, kitty]
8: something resembling a pool of liquid; "he stood in a pool of light"; "his chair sat in a puddle of books and magazines" [syn: pool, puddle]
9: any of various games played on a pool table having 6 pockets [syn: pool, pocket billiards] v
1: combine into a common fund; "We pooled resources"
2: join or form a pool of people

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English p?l; akin to Old High German pfuol pool Date: before 12th century 1. a. (1) a small and rather deep body of usually fresh water (2) a quiet place in a stream (3) a body of water forming above a dam b. something resembling a pool <a pool of light> 2. a small body of standing liquid 3. a continuous area of porous sedimentary rock that yields petroleum or gas 4. swimming pool II. intransitive verb Date: 1626 1. to form a pool 2. of blood to accumulate or become static (as in the veins of a bodily part) III. noun Etymology: French poule, literally, hen, from Old French, feminine of poul cock — more at pullet Date: 1708 1. a. an aggregate stake to which each player of a game has contributed b. all the money bet by a number of persons on a particular event 2. a. a game played on an English billiard table in which each of the players stakes a sum and the winner takes all b. any of various games of billiards played on an oblong table having 6 pockets with usually 15 object balls 3. an aggregation of the interests or property of different persons made to further a joint undertaking by subjecting them to the same control and a common liability 4. a readily available supply: as a. the whole quantity of a particular material present in the body and available for function or the satisfying of metabolic demands b. a body product (as blood) collected from many donors and stored for later use c. a group of people available for some purpose <a shrinking pool of applicants> <typing pool> 5. gene pool 6. a group of journalists from usually several news organizations using pooled resources (as television equipment) to produce shared coverage especially of events to which access is restricted IV. transitive verb Date: 1879 to combine (as resources) in a common pool or effort

Britannica Concise

Billiards game played on an oblong table having six pockets with 15 object balls and a white cue ball. At the beginning of play, the balls are arranged (racked) in a pyramid formation with its apex on a spot near the foot of the table. The first player breaks the formation by driving the cue ball into it; to continue play, he or she must pocket a ball. In the popular "8-ball" game, the first player (or team) to sink either the seven solid-colored balls (numbered 1-7) or the seven banded (striped) balls (9-15), finishing with the black 8-ball, wins. In "9-ball," only the balls numbered 1-9 are used, and they must be sunk sequentially; the player who sinks the 9-ball wins. Pool probably reached its present form in England and France by c.1800; today it is most popular in N. America.

U.S. Military Dictionary

1. Maintenance and control of a supply of resources or personnel upon which other activities may draw. The primary purpose of a pool is to promote maximum efficiency of use of the pooled resources or personnel, e.g., a petroleum pool or a labor and equipment pool. 2. Any combination of resources which serves a common purpose.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 a small body of still water, usu. of natural formation. 2 a small shallow body of any liquid. 3 = swimming-pool (see SWIM). 4 a deep place in a river. --v. 1 tr. form into a pool. 2 intr. (of blood) become static. Etymology: OE pol, MLG, MDu. pol, OHG pfuol f. WG 2. n. & v. --n. 1 a (often attrib.) a common supply of persons, vehicles, commodities, etc. for sharing by a group of people (a typing pool; a pool car). b a group of persons sharing duties etc. 2 a the collective amount of players' stakes in gambling etc. b a receptacle for this. 3 a a joint commercial venture, esp. an arrangement between competing parties to fix prices and share business to eliminate competition. b the common funding for this. 4 a US a game on a billiard-table with usu. 16 balls. b Brit. a game on a billiard-table in which each player has a ball of a different colour with which he tries to pocket the others in fixed order, the winner taking all of the stakes. 5 a group of contestants who compete against each other in a tournament for the right to advance to the next round. --v.tr. 1 put (resources etc.) into a common fund. 2 share (things) in common. 3 (of transport or organizations etc.) share (traffic, receipts). 4 Austral. sl. a involve (a person) in a scheme etc., often by deception. b implicate, inform on. Phrases and idioms: the pools Brit. = football pool. Etymology: F poule (= hen) in same sense: assoc. with POOL(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pool Pool, n. [F. poule, properly, a hen. See Pullet.] [Written also poule.] 1. The stake played for in certain games of cards, billiards, etc.; an aggregated stake to which each player has contributed a snare; also, the receptacle for the stakes. 2. 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. Note: This game is played variously, but commonly with fifteen balls, besides one cue ball, the contest being to drive the most balls into the pockets. He plays pool at the billiard houses. --Thackeray. 3. 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. 4. Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join. 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; as, the pool took all the wheat offered below the limit; he put $10,000 into the pool. 6. (Railroads) A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement. 7. (Law) An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities. Pin pool, a variety of the game of billiards in which small wooden pins are set up to be knocked down by the balls. Pool ball, one of the colored ivory balls used in playing the game at billiards called pool. Pool snipe (Zo["o]l.), the European redshank. [Prov. Eng.] Pool table, a billiard table with pockets.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pool Pool, n. [AS. p[=o]l; akin to LG. pool, pohl, D. poel, G. pfuhl; cf. Icel. pollr, also W. pwll, Gael. poll.] 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; as, the pools of Solomon. --Wyclif. Charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool. --Bacon. The sleepy pool above the dam. --Tennyson. 2. A small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle. ``The filthy mantled pool beyond your cell.'' --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pool Pool, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pooled; p. pr. & vb. n. Pooling.] To put together; to 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. Finally, it favors the poolingof all issues. --U. S. Grant.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pool Pool, v. i. To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(pools, pooling, pooled) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A pool is the same as a swimming pool. ...a heated indoor pool... During winter, many people swim and the pool is crowded. N-COUNT 2. A pool is a fairly small area of still water. The pool had dried up and was full of bracken and reeds. N-COUNT see also rock pool 3. A pool of liquid or light is a small area of it on the ground or on a surface. She was found lying in a pool of blood... The lamps on the side-tables threw warm pools of light on the polished wood. N-COUNT: N of n 4. A pool of people, money, or things is a quantity or number of them that is available for an organization or group to use. The new proposal would create a reserve pool of cash. N-COUNT: with supp, usu N of n see also car pool 5. If a group of people or organizations pool their money, knowledge, or equipment, they share it or put it together so that it can be used for a particular purpose. We pooled ideas and information... VERB: V n 6. Pool is a game played on a large table covered with a cloth. Players use a long stick called a cue to hit a white ball across the table so that it knocks coloured balls with numbers on them into six holes around the edge of the table. 7. If you do the pools, you take part in a gambling competition in which people try to win money by guessing correctly the results of football matches. (BRIT) The odds of winning the pools are about one in 20 million. = football pools N-PLURAL: the N

Easton's Bible Dictionary

a pond, or reservoir, for holding water (Heb. berekhah; modern Arabic, birket), an artificial cistern or tank. Mention is made of the pool of Gibeon (2 Sam. 2:13); the pool of Hebron (4:12); the upper pool at Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:17; 20:20); the pool of Samaria (1 Kings 22:38); the king's pool (Neh. 2:14); the pool of Siloah (Neh. 3:15; Eccles. 2:6); the fishpools of Heshbon (Cant. 7:4); the "lower pool," and the "old pool" (Isa. 22:9,11).

The "pool of Bethesda" (John 5:2,4, 7) and the "pool of Siloam" (John 9:7, 11) are also mentioned. Isaiah (35:7) says, "The parched ground shall become a pool." This is rendered in the Revised Version "glowing sand," etc. (marg., "the mirage," etc.). The Arabs call the mirage "serab," plainly the same as the Hebrew word _sarab_, here rendered "parched ground." "The mirage shall become a pool", i.e., the mock-lake of the burning desert shall become a real lake, "the pledge of refreshment and joy." The "pools" spoken of in Isa. 14:23 are the marshes caused by the ruin of the canals of the Euphrates in the neighbourhood of Babylon.

The cisterns or pools of the Holy City are for the most part excavations beneath the surface. Such are the vast cisterns in the temple hill that have recently been discovered by the engineers of the Palestine Exploration Fund. These underground caverns are about thirty-five in number, and are capable of storing about ten million gallons of water. They are connected with one another by passages and tunnels.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Pond (small), mere, lake, loch. 2. Puddle, plash, collection of standing water.

Moby Thesaurus

Aktiengesellschaft, Swiss bank account, accumulate, aktiebolag, amalgamate, artificial lake, assets, balance, bank, bank account, bayou lake, bear pool, blind pool, body corporate, bottom dollar, budget, bull pool, business, business establishment, cartel, cash reserves, chain, chamber of commerce, checking account, cistern, collect, collection, combine, command of money, commercial enterprise, compagnie, company, concern, conglomerate, conglomerate corporation, consolidate, consolidating company, consortium, copartnership, corporate body, corporation, dam, dead water, dike, diversified corporation, enterprise, etang, exchequer, farm pond, finances, firm, fishpond, freshwater lake, fund, funds, gather, glacial lake, group, holding company, house, industry, inland sea, jackpot, joint-stock association, joint-stock company, kitty, lagoon, laguna, lake, lakelet, landlocked water, league, life savings, linn, loch, lough, means, mere, merge, millpond, millpool, moneys, natatorium, nest egg, nyanza, operating company, oxbow lake, partnership, pecuniary resources, plash, plunderbund, plunge, plunge bath, pocket, pond, pondlet, pot, public utility, puddle, purse, reserves, reservoir, resources, salina, salt pond, savings, savings account, stagnant water, stakes, standing water, still water, stock company, substance, sump, swimming bath, swimming hole, swimming pool, syndicate, tank, tarn, team up with, tidal pond, tiger, trade association, treasure, trust, unregistered bank account, utility, volcanic lake, wading pool, water hole, water pocket, well, wherewithal