• (RP) IPA: /puːl/
• (America, Canada) IPA: /pul/, [pʰuɫ], [pʰuəɫ]
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA: /pʉl/

From Middle English pool, pole, pol, from Old English pōl, from Proto-West Germanic pōl, from Proto-Germanic *pōlaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bōlos.

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.

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

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.

• French: étang, mare
• German: Becken
• Italian: bacino, invaso
• Portuguese: piscina
• Russian: бассе́йн
• Spanish: poza, pileta, balsa

• French: flaque
• German: Lache, Pfütze
• Italian: pozza, pozzanghera
• Portuguese: poça
• Russian: лу́жа
• Spanish: charco

• French: réserve, pool, groupe
• German: Fundus
• Italian: insieme, riserva
• Portuguese: fundo
• Russian: фонд

• French: pool
• Italian: risorse, pool

• French: flaque

• French: flaque

pool (pools, present participle pooling; simple past and past participle pooled)

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

pool (plural pools)

1. (game, 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.
2. (sport) A cue sport played on a pool table. There are 15 balls, 7 of one colour or solids, 7 of another color or stripes, 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.

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

   Synonyms: poule

5. (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.

   Synonyms: group

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

9. A set of players in quadrille etc.
10. (rail transport) A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.
11. (legal) An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities.

• French: billard
• Portuguese: bilhar
• Spanish: billar

pool (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?”

   • 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.

• French: réunir
• Portuguese: reunir
• Spanish: reunir, compartir

• French: mettre en commun
• Portuguese: unir esforços
• Spanish: participar

1. A village in Carn Brea, Cornwall (OS grid ref SW6641).
2. Short for Pool-in-Wharfedale.
3. A cpar in the Leeds, also known as Pool in Wharfedale.
4. An unincorporated community in Nicholas County, West Virginia.