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Shoal
Definitions
- 1 Shallow. archaic
"shoal water"
- 1 A sandbank or sandbar creating a shallow.
"'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed."
- 2 Any large number of persons or things.
"Shoals of tourists"
- 3 a large group of fish wordnet
- 4 A shallow in a body of water.
"The depth of your pond should be six feet; and on the sides some shoals for the fish to sun themselves in and to lay their spawn."
- 5 A large number of fish (or other sea creatures) of the same species swimming together. collective
"c. 1661, Edmund Waller, On St. James's Park Beneath, a shoal of silver fishes glides."
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- 6 a stretch of shallow water wordnet
- 7 a sandbank in a stretch of water that is visible at low tide wordnet
- 1 To arrive at a shallow (or less deep) area.
- 2 To collect in a shoal; to throng.
"The fish shoaled about the place."
- 3 become shallow wordnet
- 4 To cause a shallowing; to come to a more shallow part of. transitive
"Noting the rate at which she shoals her water -[…]"
- 5 make shallow wordnet
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- 6 To become shallow.
"The colour of the water shows where it shoals."
Etymology
From Middle English schold, scholde, from Old English sċeald (“shallow”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skalidaz, past participle of *skaljaną (“to go dry, dry up, become shallow”), from *skalaz (“parched, shallow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to dry out”). Cognate with Low German Scholl (“shallow water”), German schal (“stale, flat, vapid”). Compare shallow.
From Middle English schold, scholde, from Old English sċeald (“shallow”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skalidaz, past participle of *skaljaną (“to go dry, dry up, become shallow”), from *skalaz (“parched, shallow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to dry out”). Cognate with Low German Scholl (“shallow water”), German schal (“stale, flat, vapid”). Compare shallow.
From Middle English schold, scholde, from Old English sċeald (“shallow”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skalidaz, past participle of *skaljaną (“to go dry, dry up, become shallow”), from *skalaz (“parched, shallow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to dry out”). Cognate with Low German Scholl (“shallow water”), German schal (“stale, flat, vapid”). Compare shallow.
1570, presumably from Middle English *schole (“school of fish”), from Old English sċeolu, sċolu (“troop or band of people, host, multitude, division of army, school of fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *skolu, from Proto-Germanic *skulō (“crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to divide, split, separate”). Cognate with West Frisian skoal (“shoal”), Middle Low German schōle (“multitude, troop”), Dutch school (“shoal of fishes”). Doublet of school.
1570, presumably from Middle English *schole (“school of fish”), from Old English sċeolu, sċolu (“troop or band of people, host, multitude, division of army, school of fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *skolu, from Proto-Germanic *skulō (“crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to divide, split, separate”). Cognate with West Frisian skoal (“shoal”), Middle Low German schōle (“multitude, troop”), Dutch school (“shoal of fishes”). Doublet of school.
See also for "shoal"
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