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pools

British  
/ puːlz /

plural noun

  1. Also called: football pools.  an organized nationwide principally postal gambling pool betting on the result of football matches

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of pools

C20: from pool ² (in the sense: a gambling kitty)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

By 10:24 p.m., the equivalent of 20,000 Olympic swimming pools of water flows out.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

By 10:24 p.m., the equivalent of 20,000 Olympic swimming pools of water flows out.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

It's always heartbreaking to hear of any closures of diving pools.

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

Wells Fargo raised Alphabet’s price target to $397, representing 41% upside, citing new profit pools.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

They crawled over rocks and down into tide pools and through the dead fields that ringed the island.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.