pool
pronunciation
How to pronounce pool in British English:
UK [puːl]
How to pronounce pool in American English:
US [puːl]
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- Noun:
- an excavation that is (usually) filled with water
- a small lake
- an organization of people or resources that can be shared
- an association of companies for some definite purpose
- any communal combination of funds
- a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid
- the combined stakes of the betters
- something resembling a pool of liquid
- any of various games played on a pool table having 6 pockets
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- Verb:
- combine into a common fund
- join or form a pool of people
Word Origin
- pool
- pool: Pool of water [OE] and pool ‘collective amount’ [17] are distinct words in English. The former comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *pōl-, source also of German pfuhl and Dutch poel. The latter was borrowed from French poule ‘hen’, a descendant of Latin pullus ‘young chicken’ (source also of English pony, poultry, and pullet).There was a French game called jeu de la poule, the ‘hen game’, involving throwing things at a hen – which you won as a prize if you hit it. Hence poule came to be used figuratively for ‘target’, and also for ‘that which is at stake in a game’ – source of the original meaning of English pool, ‘stake’. This evolved via ‘stake made up of players’ contributions’ to ‘collective amount’ and ‘collective resource’. Pool the snooker-like game is the same word; the game was originally played for a collective stake.=> foal, pony, poultry, pullet
- pool (n.1)
- "small body of water," Old English pol "small body of water; deep, still place in a river," from West Germanic *pol- (cognates: Old Frisian and Middle Low German pol, Dutch poel, Old High German pfuol, German Pfuhl). As a short form of swimming pool it is recorded from 1901. Pool party is from 1965.
- pool (n.2)
- game similar to billiards, 1848, originally (1690s) a card game played for collective stakes (a "pool"), from French poule "stakes, booty, plunder," literally "hen," from Old French poille "hen, young fowl" (see foal (n.)). Perhaps the original notion is from jeu de la poule, supposedly a game in which people threw things at a chicken and the player who hit it, won it, which speaks volumes about life in the Middle Ages. The notion behind the word, then, is "playing for money." The connection of "hen" and "stakes" is also present in Spanish polla and Walloon paie. Meaning "collective stakes" in betting first recorded 1869; sense of "common reservoir of resources" is from 1917. Meaning "group of persons who share duties or skills" is from 1928. From 1933 as short for football pool in wagering. Pool shark is from 1898. The phrase dirty pool "underhanded or unsportsmanlike conduct," especially in politics (1951), seems to belong here now, but the phrase dirty pool of politics, with an image of pool (n.1) is recorded from 1871 and was in use early 20c.
- pool (v.1)
- "to make a common interest, put things into a pool," 1871, from pool (n.2). Related: Pooled; pooling.
- pool (v.2)
- of liquid, "to form a pool or pools," 1620s, from pool (n.1).
Example
- 1. This provides a large untapped pool to work on .
- 2. A pool with sprayers against a background of power units .
- 3. I 've always known that I climb out of any pool a lot happier than when I dove in .
- 4. How do you get 100 canadians out of the pool ?
- 5. There are barbecue nights and pool tables .