pool Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an excavation that is (usually) filled with water
  2. noun a small lake
    pond.
    • the pond was too small for sailing
  3. noun 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. noun an association of companies for some definite purpose
    consortium; syndicate.
  5. noun any communal combination of funds
    • everyone contributed to the pool
  6. noun a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid
    puddle.
    • there were puddles of muddy water in the road after the rain
    • the body lay in a pool of blood
  7. noun the combined stakes of the betters
    kitty.
  8. noun something resembling a pool of liquid
    puddle.
    • he stood in a pool of light
    • his chair sat in a puddle of books and magazines
  9. noun any of various games played on a pool table having 6 pockets
    pocket billiards.
  10. verb combine into a common fund
    • We pooled resources
  11. verb join or form a pool of people

WordNet

Pool noun
Etymology
AS. pol; akin to LG. pool, pohl, D. poel, G. pfuhl; cf. Icel. pollr, also W. pwll, Gael. poll.
Definitions
  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.
Pool noun
Etymology
F. poule, properly, a hen. See Pullet.
Definitions
  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. ✍ 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. pool hall, a commercial establishment where customers may play pool for a fee. pool room, (a) a room containing a pool table as its most prominent feature. (b) pool hall.
Pool transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Pooled ; present participle & verbal noun Pooling
Definitions
  1. 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.
Pool intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction.

Webster 1913