pool

¹

[ pool ]

noun

1. a small body of standing water; pond.
2. a still, deep place in a stream.
3. any small collection of liquid on a surface:

   a pool of blood.

4. a puddle.
5. swimming pool.
6. a subterranean accumulation of oil or gas held in porous and permeable sedimentary rock reservoir.

verb (used without object)

1. to form a pool.
2. (of blood) to accumulate in a body part or organ.

verb (used with object)

1. to cause pools to form in.
2. to cause (blood) to form pools.

adjective

1. of or for a pool:

   pool filters.

2. taking place or occurring around or near a pool:

   a pool party.

pool

²

[ pool ]

noun

1. Also called pocket billiards. any of various games played on a pool table with a cue ball and 15 other balls that are usually numbered, in which the object is to drive all the balls into the pockets with the cue ball. Compare billiards ( def ).
2. the total amount staked by a combination of bettors, as on a race, to be awarded to the successful bettor or bettors.
3. the combination of such bettors.
4. an association of competitors who agree to control the production, market, and price of a commodity for mutual benefit, although they appear to be rivals.

   Synonyms: monopoly, corner

5. Finance. a combination of persons or organizations for the purpose of manipulating the prices of securities.
6. a combination of resources, funds, etc., for common advantage.
7. the combined interests or funds.
8. a facility, resource, or service that is shared by a group of people:

   a car pool;

   The Psychology department has built up a large participant pool for experiments.

9. the persons or parties involved.
10. the stakes in certain games.
11. British. a billiard game.
12. Fencing. a match in which each teammate successively plays against each member of the opposing team.

verb (used with object)

1. to put (resources, money, etc.) into a pool, or common stock or fund, as for a financial venture, according to agreement.

   Synonyms: consolidate, merge, combine

2. to form a pool of.
3. to make a common interest of.

verb (used without object)

1. to enter into or form a pool.

adjective

1. of or belonging to a pool:

   a pool reporter;

   Pool research assistants will be assigned to code and enter the data.

pool

¹

/ puːl /

noun

1. any communal combination of resources, funds, etc

   a typing pool

2. the combined stakes of the betters in many gambling sports or games; kitty
3. commerce a group of producers who conspire to establish and maintain output levels and high prices, each member of the group being allocated a maximum quota; price ring
4. finance
   1. a joint fund organized by security-holders for speculative or manipulative purposes on financial markets
   2. the persons or parties involved in such a combination
5. any of various billiard games in which the object is to pot all the balls with the cue ball, esp that played with 15 coloured and numbered balls; pocket billiards

verb

1. to combine (investments, money, interests, etc) into a common fund, as for a joint enterprise
2. commerce to organize a pool of (enterprises)
3. informal.
   to inform on or incriminate (someone)

pool

²

/ puːl /

noun

1. a small body of still water, usually fresh; small pond
2. a small isolated collection of liquid spilt or poured on a surface; puddle

   a pool of blood

3. a deep part of a stream or river where the water runs very slowly
4. an underground accumulation of oil or gas, usually forming a reservoir in porous sedimentary rock
5. See swimming pool
   See swimming pool

Other Words From

• pooler noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of pool¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English pol, pole, Old English pōl; cognate with Dutch poel, German Pfuhl

Origin of pool²

First recorded in 1685–95; from French poule “collective stakes in a game,” literally, “hen”; pullet

Word History and Origins

Origin of pool¹

C17: from French poule, literally: hen used to signify stakes in a card game, from Medieval Latin pulla hen, from Latin pullus young animal

Origin of pool²

Old English pōl; related to Old Frisian pōl, German Pfuhl

Example Sentences

“When families and communities are in crisis, that’s when they come together to pool and share resources,” says Prado, a fifth-year doctoral student in education at the University of California, Irvine.

From Science News

That is a smaller pool of recipients than the $600 enhanced checks, which weren’t limited in this manner.

From Fortune

Swimply is an online pool sharing marketplace by 23- year-old brainchild Bunim Laskin.

From Essence.com

A beach ball, on the other hand, has very little mass but takes up a lot of space, so if it were placed at the bottom of a pool, it would bob to the surface.

From Science News

When you’re not going to those conventions, when you’re not going to those meetings … that’s going to affect your talent pool.

From Digiday

Flesh encircled him at the main pool of the Paradise Hotel and Residences at Boca.

From The Daily Beast

Marvin takes off his T-shirt and dives into his swimming pool.

From The Daily Beast

There may be no entrapped pool of human talent left on earth with the dollar value of Cuban athletes.

From The Daily Beast

In the course of her remarkable travels Thecla baptizes herself by diving into a pool of “man-eating seals.”

From The Daily Beast

They include “The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell” painted in 1932 and “The Harbour, Cannes,” painted circa 1933.

From The Daily Beast

Big Reginald took their lives at pool, and pocketed their half-crowns in an easy genial way, which almost made losing a pleasure.

From Project Gutenberg

Captains Spotstroke and Pool were equally careful; the rest of those present drank freely.

From Project Gutenberg

John was baptizing at a large pool called Ænon-by-Saleim,—probably allegorical, meaning “Fountain of Repose.”

From Project Gutenberg

The pool was drained in 1866, and, having been filled up, its site will ere long be covered with streets of houses.

From Project Gutenberg

A germ flies from a stagnant pool, and the laughing child, its mother's darling, dies dreadfully of diphtheria.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• merge