Meaning of pool In English

• 0 a small area of usually still water:

  • We looked for crabs in the rock pools along the seashore.

  • a pool of blood/oil

  • figurative a pool of light

  • I spent most of my holiday lying/sunbathing by the pool.

• 1 a number of people or a quantity of a particular thing, such as money, collected together for shared use by several people or organizations:

  • Patrick crashed a Ford that he'd borrowed from the car pool at work.

  • As unemployment rises, the pool of cheap labour increases.

• 2 in some card games, an amount of money that is collected from all the players and received by the player who wins the game

  • a baseball/football/hockey pool

  • the office pool

  • Who won the pool?

  • They do the pools every week.

• 3 a game in which two people use cues (= long, thin poles) to hit 16 coloured balls into six holes around the edge of a large table covered in soft cloth:

  • a pool table/room/hall

  • mainly US informal Do you want to shoot (= play) some pool?

• 4 to collect something such as money in order for it to be used by several different people or groups:

  • The kids pooled their money to buy their parents a wedding anniversary gift.

• 5 a small area of usually still water, or a small amount of liquid:

  • pools of water in the gutter

  • a pool of blood

• 6 an amount of money or a number of people or things collected together for shared use by several people or organizations:

  • Their profits get plowed back into a pool to pay subscribers’ claims.

  • an office Super Bowl pool

• 7 a game played by two or more people in which a cue (= long, round stick) is used to hit a white ball against other balls in order to roll them into one of six holes around the edge of a special table:

  • a pool table

• 8 to combine your money with money from a number of other people for shared use:

  • The kids pooled their money to buy their parents plane tickets.

• 9 a quantity of a particular thing or money that is collected and used by different people or organizations:

  • You can buy shares directly via a stockbroker or invest in a pool of shares run by a professional fund manager.

  • You can use a car from the car pool for your trip.

• 10 a number of people who are available to work when needed:

  • We are creating a pool of workers who are willing and able to fill such positions.

  • Many companies are considering outsourcing some of their operations in order to tap into a cheaper pool of labour.

• 11 a group of insurance companies that work together to provide insurance for something that a single insurance company cannot provide insurance for alone:

  • a high-risk insurance pool

• 12 to share something such as money, information, etc. so that it can be used by several different people or groups:

  • The countries agreed to pool resources for defence purposes.

  • They pool money from thousands of different investors and put it into a wide range of companies.

  • pool experience/knowledge/talents