pool

views updated Jun 27 2018

pool1 / poōl/ • n. a small area of still water, typically one formed naturally. ∎  a small, shallow patch of liquid lying on a surface: a pool of blood | fig. the lamps cast pools of light on the wet streets. ∎  a swimming pool. ∎  a deep place in a river.• v. [intr.] (of water or another liquid) form a pool on the ground or another surface: the oil pooled behind the quay walls, escaping slowly into the river. ∎  (of blood) accumulate in parts of the venous system.pool2 • n. 1. a supply of vehicles or goods available for use when needed: the oldest vehicle in the motor pool. ∎  a group of people available for work when required: the typing pool. ∎  a group of people considered as a resource: a nationwide pool of promising high-school students. ∎  an arrangement, illegal in many countries, between competing parties to fix prices or rates and share business in order to eliminate competition. ∎  a common fund into which all contributors pay and from which financial backing is provided: big public investment pools. ∎  a source of common funding for speculative operations on financial markets: a huge pool of risk capital. ∎  a group of contestants who compete against each other in a tournament for the right to advance to the next round. ∎  the collective amount of players' stakes in gambling or sweepstakes; a kitty.2. Billiards a game played on a table using fifteen colored and numbered balls and a white cue ball. ∎ another term for pocket billiards. ∎ short for straight pool.• v. [tr.] (of two or more people or organizations) put (money or other assets) into a common fund: they entered a contract to pool any gains and invest them profitably. ∎  share (things) for the benefit of all those involved: [as n.] (pooling) a pooling of ideas. DERIVATIVES: pool·er n.

pool

views updated May 21 2018

pool Form of billiards that originated in the USA. One version is played with eight single-colour balls and seven striped balls (numbered 1 to 15), plus a white cue ball, on a rectangular table with four corner pockets and two side pockets. The most popular version divides the striped balls and the single-colour balls, except the black ball (number 8), between the two players, so that the black is the last to be potted.

pool

views updated May 29 2018

pool2 collective amount of stakes in a cardgame, †game at cards XVII; transf. of other games, (hence) common fund, combine XIX. F. poule stake, prop. hen (see PULLET); assoc. with POOL1.
Hence vb. XIX.

pool

views updated Jun 27 2018

pool1 small body of still water. OE. pōl = (M)LG., MDu. pōl (Du. poel), OHG. pfuol (G. pfuhl), f. WGmc. *pōl-, rel. to OE. pyll creek; further relations uncert.

Pool

views updated May 29 2018

Pool

a small body of liquid; a reservoir of persons or things.

Examples : pool of blood, 1843; of memory, 1903; of sunlight, 1875; of typists; of water, 1622.