pool definition

English pool definition

Alternative forms

• poole (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /puːl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /pul/, [pʰuɫ], [pʰuəɫ]
• Rhymes: -uːl
• Homophone: Poole

Etymology 1

From Middle English pool, pole, pol, from Old English pōl (“pool”), 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”), 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 боло́то (bolóto, “swamp, bog, marsh”).

Noun

pool (plural pools)

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.

   the pools of Solomon

   the Pool of London

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 15, column 2:

     […] at laſt I left them
     I’ th’ filthy mantled poole beyond your Cell,
     There dancing vp to th’ chins, that the fowle Lake
     Ore-ſtunck their feet.

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Marriage And Single Life. VIII.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 37:

     A Single Life doth well with Church-men : For Charitie will hardly water the Ground, where it muſt firſt fill a Poole.

   • 1833, Alfred Tennyson, “The Miller's Daughter”, in Poems, 5th edition, Edward Moxon, published 1848, page 86:

     I loved the brimming wave that swam
     Thro’ quiet meadows round the mill,
     The sleepy pool above the dam,
     The pool beneath it never still,
     The meal-sacks on the whiten’d floor,
     The dark round of the dripping wheel,
     The very air about the door
     Made misty with the floating meal.

2. Any small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
3. Ellipsis of swimming pool.
4. A supply of resources.

   There is a limited pool of candidates from which to choose the new manager.

   dating pool

   • 1962 June, Rupert Shervington, “The planning and execution of the Kent Coast electrification”, in Modern Railways, page 390:

     The 4-BEP and 4-CEP stock is maintained in a common pool for both Chatham and South Eastern fast main-line services.

   • 2020 October 15, Alana Semuels, “Workers Who Were Laid Off Say They're Being Passed Over—For Their Own Jobs”, in Time‎^[1]:

     This is not necessarily surprising; employers often use recessions to pay new workers less because they have such a large pool of potential applicants to choose from, says Ruth Milkman, the Labor Studies Chair at the City University of New York’s School of Labor and Urban Studies.

5. (by extension, computing) A set of resources that are kept ready to use.
6. A small amount of liquid on a surface.

   a pool of blood

7. A localized glow of light.
   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:

     He walked slowly, passing through one pool of light after another, his shadow running tall across the fronts of the barber shop, the Western Auto, the video-rental shop.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → German: Pool
• → Japanese: プール (pūru)
• → Swedish: pool c

Translations

Verb

pool (third-person singular simple present pools, present participle pooling, simple past and past participle pooled)

1. (intransitive, of a liquid) To form a pool.

Etymology 2

1. From French poule (“collective stakes in a game”). The French word "poule" in this context is an abbreviation of "poulain, pouliche" (foal, filly), and referred to races with female horses under 3 years old. It then became used by punters to designate bets on that race, and started to be used from the racetrack to the stadiums.

2. 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.

Noun

pool (plural pools)

1. (games, 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.
3. (sports) A cue sport played on a pool table. There are 15 balls, 7 of one colour, 7 of another, 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.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 23, in The Book of Snobs:

     He plays pool at the billiard-houses, and may be seen engaged at cards and dominoes of forenoons.

4. 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.
5. (fencing) A group of fencers taking part in a competition.

   Synonym: poule

6. (rugby union) 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.

   Synonym: group

7. Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join.
8. 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.

    The pool took all the wheat offered below the limit.

    He put $10,000 into the pool.

11. A set of players in quadrille etc.
12. (rail transport) A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.
13. (law) 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

Translations

Verb

pool (third-person singular simple present pools, present participle pooling, simple past and past participle pooled)

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.

   We must pool our resources.

   • 1920, Frank L. Packard, chapter 4, in The White Moll:

     “She must be exceedingly clever to have beaten the police the way she has for the last few years; and—er—I worship at the shrine of cleverness—especially if it be a woman’s. The idea struck me last night that if she and I should—er—pool our resources, we should not have to complain of the reward.”
     “Oh, so youse wants to work wid her, eh?” sniffed Rhoda Gray. “So dat’s it, is it?”

   • 2007 November, Elizabeth Drake, “Combine and conquer: Use these winning food pairings to protect your health”, in Men's Health, volume 22, number 9, →ISSN, page 124:

     It all started 6 years ago, as Rutgers University scientists Allan Conney, Ph.D., and George C. Wagner, Ph.D., chatted at an office get-together. […] From this conversation, the two decided to pool their knowledge and join forces.

   • 27 February 2010, Barack Obama, Presidential Weekly Address - Time for Us to Act

     Many on both sides agreed that we should give small businesses and individuals the ability to participate in a new insurance marketplace – which members of Congress would also use – that would allow them to pool their purchasing power and get a better deal from insurance companies.

2. (intransitive) To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction.

Translations

Anagrams

• Loop, OOPL, Polo, loop, polo

Dutch pool definition

Etymology 1

From Latin polus, which itself is from Ancient Greek πόλος (pólos, “axis”). Cognate with English pole.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pool

Noun

pool c (plural polen, diminutive pooltje n)

1. magnetic pole (especially of the Earth and other celestial bodies)
2. electrical pole (e.g. of a battery)
3. (figuratively) an opposing side of a principle or a doctrine

Derived terms

• noordpool, Noordpool
• zuidpool, Zuidpool

Etymology 2

From English pool.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pool

Noun

pool m (plural pools, diminutive pooltje n)

1. a gambling venture such as a football pool
2. the stake involved in such a venture
3. an arrangement where people pool in money to share one resource such as a carpool
4. (sports) pool

Derived terms

• banenpool
• arbeidspool

Etymology 3

From Middle Dutch pool, from Old French poil, from Latin pilus (“hair”). Cognate with English pile.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pool

Noun

pool c (plural polen, diminutive pooltje n)

1. the pile (upstanding usually fine hair) on certain fabrics, velvet or carpeting

Anagrams

• loop

Estonian pool definition

Etymology 1

From Proto-Finnic *pooli, from Proto-Uralic *pälä. Cognates include Finnish puoli (“half, side”), Mansi па̄л (pāl, “half, side”), Hungarian fél (“half”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpoːl/, [ˈpoːl]
• Hyphenation: pool
• Rhymes: -oːl

Noun

pool (genitive poole, partitive poolt)

1. half
2. side

   tagumine pool ― back side

   koledam pool ― the ugly side

Declension

The nonstandard plural partitive poolesid is somewhat common in colloquial use.

Spatial inflection of pool

↗︎○	allative	poole
○	adessive	pool
○↘︎	ablative	poolt

Postposition

pool

1. at, to, towards

   minu pool ― at my place

   põhja pool ― to the north, in the north

   igal pool ― everywhere

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle Low German spōle, from Old Saxon spōla, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *spōlǭ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpoːlʲ/, [ˈpoːlʲ]
• Hyphenation: pool
• Rhymes: -oːlʲ

Noun

pool (genitive pooli, partitive pooli)

1. bobbin, coil

Inflection

See also

• mähis

References

• pool in Metsmägi, Iris; Sedrik, Meeli; Soosaar, Sven-Erik (2012), Eesti etümoloogiasõnaraamat, Tallinn: Eesti Keele Instituut, →ISBN

French pool definition

Noun

pool m (plural pools)

1. pool (sport)

Further reading

• “pool”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Ingrian pool definition

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈpoːl/, [ˈpoːlʲ]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈpoːlʲ/, [ˈpo̝ːlʲ]
• Rhymes: -oːl, -oːlʲ
• Hyphenation: pool

Noun

pool

1. Alternative form of pooli

Declension

Declension of pool (type 5/keeli, no gradation)
	singular	plural
nominative	pool	poolet
genitive	poolen	pooliin, pooliloin
partitive	poolta, poolt	poolia, pooliloja
illative	poolee	poolii, pooliloihe
inessive	poolees	pooliis, poolilois
elative	poolest	poolist, pooliloist
allative	poolelle	poolille, pooliloille
adessive	pooleel	pooliil, pooliloil
ablative	poolelt	poolilt, pooliloilt
translative	pooleks	pooliks, pooliloiks
essive	poolenna, pooleen	poolinna, pooliloinna, pooliin, pooliloin
exessive1)	poolent	poolint, pooliloint
1) obsolete *) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) **) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka? or -kä? to the genitive.

References

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 451

Karao pool definition

Noun

pool

1. large fire (which causes damage)

Sambali pool definition

Noun

pool

1. fire

Spanish pool definition

Noun

pool m (plural pooles)

1. pool (sport)

Swedish pool definition

Etymology

Since 1968; from English pool, related to Swedish pöl (“small water pool, usually on the road when it's raining”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /puːl/
• Homophone: pol
• Rhymes: -uːl

Noun

pool c

1. a swimming pool

Declension

Declension of pool
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	pool	poolen	pooler	poolerna
Genitive	pools	poolens	poolers	poolernas

Related terms

• bubbelpool

Anagrams

• loop
• polo

Votic pool definition

Pronunciation

• (Luutsa, Liivtšülä) IPA^(key): /ˈpoːl/, [ˈpoːɫ]
• Rhymes: -oːl
• Hyphenation: pool

Noun

pool

1. Alternative form of pooli

Numeral

pool

1. half

Inflection

Declension of pool (type X/tuli, no gradation)
	singular	plural
nominative	pool, pooli	poolõd
genitive	poolõ	poolije, poolijõ, pooli
partitive	pooltõ	poolitõ, pooli
illative	poolõ, poolõsõ	poolije, poolijõ, poolisõ
inessive	poolõz	pooliz
elative	poolõssõ	poolissõ
allative	poolõlõ	poolilõ
adessive	poolõllõ	poolillõ
ablative	poolõltõ	pooliltõ
translative	poolõssi	poolissi
*) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) **) the terminative is formed by adding the suffix -ssaa to the short illative or the genitive. ***) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka to the genitive.

References

• V. Hallap, E. Adler, S. Grünberg, M. Leppik (2012), “pooli”, in Vadja keele sõnaraamat [A dictionary of the Votic language], 2nd edition, Tallinn

Yucatec Maya pool definition

Noun

pool

1. head