I. ˈpül noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English pōl; akin to Old High German pfuol pool
Date: before 12th century
1.
a.
(1) : a small and rather deep body of usually fresh water
(2) : a quiet place in a stream
(3) : a body of water forming above a dam
b. : something resembling a pool
a pool of light
2. : a small body of standing liquid
3. : a continuous area of porous sedimentary rock that yields petroleum or gas
4. : swimming pool
II. intransitive verb
Date: 1626
1. : to form a pool
2. of blood : to accumulate or become static (as in the veins of a bodily part)
III. noun
Etymology: French poule, literally, hen, from Old French, feminine of poul cock — more at pullet
Date: 1708
1.
a. : an aggregate stake to which each player of a game has contributed
b. : all the money bet by a number of persons on a particular event
2.
a. : a game played on an English billiard table in which each of the players stakes a sum and the winner takes all
b. : any of various games of billiards played on an oblong table having 6 pockets with usually 15 object balls
3. : an aggregation of the interests or property of different persons made to further a joint undertaking by subjecting them to the same control and a common liability
4. : a readily available supply: as
a. : the whole quantity of a particular material present in the body and available for function or the satisfying of metabolic demands
b. : a body product (as blood) collected from many donors and stored for later use
c. : a group of people available for some purpose
a shrinking pool of applicants
typing pool
5. : gene pool
6. : a group of journalists from usually several news organizations using pooled resources (as television equipment) to produce shared coverage especially of events to which access is restricted
IV. transitive verb
Date: 1879
: to combine (as resources) in a common pool or effort