pool

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A small body of still water.
2. n. An accumulation of standing liquid; a puddle: a pool of blood.
3. n. A deep or still place in a stream.
4. n. A swimming pool.
5. n. An underground accumulation of petroleum or gas in porous sedimentary rock.
6. v. To form pools or a pool: The receding tide pooled in hollows along the shore.
7. v. To accumulate in a body part: preventing blood from pooling in the limbs.
8. n. A game of chance, resembling a lottery, in which the contestants put staked money into a common fund that is later paid to the winner.
9. n. A fund containing all the money bet in a game of chance or on the outcome of an event.
10. n. A grouping of resources for the common advantage of the participants: a pool of implements for the use of all the workers on the estate; forming a pool of our talents.
11. n. An available supply, the use of which is shared by a group.
12. n. A group of journalists who cover an event and then by agreement share their reports with participating news media: the White House press pool.
13. n. A mutual fund established by a group of stockholders for speculating in or manipulating prices of securities.
14. n. The persons or parties participating in such a fund.
15. n. An agreement between competing business concerns to establish controls over production, market, and prices for common profit.
16. n. Any of several games played on a six-pocket billiards table usually with 15 object balls and a cue ball. Also called pocket billiards.
17. v. To put into a fund for use by all: Let's pool our resources to finish the project quickly.
18. v. To join or form a pool.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A small body of standing water; a small pond.
2. n. A part of a small stream where the bed suddenly deepens and broadens, forming a relatively still, deep, and wide stretch of water.
3. n. In Pennsylvania, on some of the rivers of the mining regions, a stretch of water lying between two river-dams.
4. n. Hence— The country adjacent to such pools.
5. n. A measure of work in slating, or covering houses with slate, equal to 168 square feet in all, or to 84 square feet on each side of the roof.
6. n. In decorative art, a rounded depression, small and short in comparison with its width. Compare fluting.
7. n. The stakes in certain games of cards, billiards, etc.
8. n. A game played on a billiard-table with six pockets by two or more persons. In the United States, a game played with fifteen balls, each ball numbered and counting from one to fifteen. The object of each player is to pocket the balls, the number on each ball being placed to his credit. Also called pyramid pool.
9. n. In horse-racing, ball-games, etc., the combination of a number of persons, each staking a sum of money on the success of a horse in a race, a contestant in a game, etc., the money to be divided among the successful betters according to the amount put in by each; also, the money so staked.
10. n. In rifle-shooting, firing for prizes on the principle that every competitor pays a certain sum for every shot, and the proceeds after a certain deduction are divided among the successful competitors.
11. n. A set of players, as at the game of quadrille or comet; also, one of the counters used in such games.
12. n. A combination intended by concert of action to make or control changes in market rates. More specifically— A joint adventure by several owners of a specified stock or other security temporarily subjecting all their holdings to the same control for the purposes of a speculative operation, in which any sacrifice of the shares contributed by one, and any profit on the shares contributed by another, shall be shared by all alike.
13. To put into one common fund or stock for the purpose of dividing or redistributing in certain proportions; make into a common fund: as, to pool interests.
14. To form a pool; make common cause in some matter.
15. n. A Middle English form of pole.
16. In quarrying, to make a hole in (rock) for inserting a wedge; also, to undermine (coal) to cause (it) to fall.
17. To form pools, as water; stagnate.

Wiktionary

1. n. 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.
2. n. A small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
3. n. A swimming pool.
4. n. A supply of resources.
5. n. 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; a game of skill in pocketing the balls on a pool table
6. n. 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
7. n. Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join
8. n. 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
9. n. 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; for example, as the pool took all the wheat offered below the limit, he put $10,000 into the pool
10. n. 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. n. law An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities
12. v. 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; as, the companies pooled their traffic
13. v. intransitive to combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. 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.
2. n. A small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
3. n. 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.
4. n. 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.
5. n. 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.
6. n. Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join.
7. n. 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
8. n. (Railroads) A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.
9. n. (Law) An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities.
10. v. 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.
11. v. To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid
2. v. combine into a common fund
3. n. a small lake
4. n. an association of companies for some definite purpose
5. n. the combined stakes of the betters
6. v. join or form a pool of people
7. n. any communal combination of funds
8. n. something resembling a pool of liquid
9. n. any of various games played on a pool table having 6 pockets
10. n. an organization of people or resources that can be shared
11. n. an excavation that is (usually) filled with water