shoal

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

shoal, n. [AS. scolu, sceolu, a company, multitude, crowd, akin to OS. skola; probably originally, a division, and akin to Icel. skilja to part, divide. See Skill, and cf. School. of fishes.].

 A great multitude assembled; a crowd; a throng; -- said especially of fish; as, a shoal of bass.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]
"Beneath, a shoal of silver fishes glides."  [1913 Webster]

shoal, v. i. 

 To assemble in a multitude; to throng; as, the fishes shoaled about the place.  Chapman.  [1913 Webster]

shoal, a. [Cf. Shallow; or cf. G. scholle a clod, glebe, OHG. scollo, scolla, prob. akin to E. shoal a multitude.].

 Having little depth; shallow; as, shoal water.  [1913 Webster]

shoal, n. 

•  A place where the water of a sea, lake, river, pond, etc., is shallow; a shallow.  [1913 Webster]

  "The depth of your pond should be six feet; and on the sides some shoals for the fish to lay their span."  [1913 Webster]

  "Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
  And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor."  [1913 Webster]
•  A sandbank or bar which makes the water shoal.  [1913 Webster]

  "The god himself with ready trident stands,
  And opes the deep, and spreads the moving sands,
  Then heaves them off the shoals."  [1913 Webster]

shoal, v. i. 

 To become shallow; as, the color of the water shows where it shoals.  [1913 Webster]

shoal, v. t. 

 To cause to become more shallow; to come to a more shallow part of; as, a ship shoals her water by advancing into that which is less deep.  Marryat.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

shoal, n. & v.
--n.
1 a great number of fish swimming together (cf. SCHOOL(2)).
2 a multitude; a crowd (shoals of letters).
--v.intr. (of fish) form shoals.

shoal, n., v., & adj.
--n.
1 a an area of shallow water. b a submerged sandbank visible at low water.
2 (esp. in pl.) hidden danger or difficulty.
--v.
1 intr. (of water) get shallower.
2 tr. (of a ship etc.) move into a shallower part of (water).
--adj. archaic (of water) shallow.

Derivative

shoaly adj.

Etymology

OE sceald f. Gmc, rel. to SHALLOW

THESAURUS

shoal

a mass of, a world of, ankle-deep, army, bank, bar, barrier, bevy, bunch, cloud, clutter, colony, coral heads, coral reef, covey, cursory, depthless, drift, drive, drove, epidermal, flat, flight, flock, flocks, ford, gam, gang, hail, herd, hive, hook, host, ironbound coast, jam, jejune, kennel, knee-deep, large amount, ledges, lee shore, legion, light, litter, lots, many, masses of, mob, muchness, multitude, nest, not deep, numbers, on the surface, pack, pitfall, plurality, pod, pride, quantities, quicksands, quite a few, reef, rockbound coast, rocks, rout, ruck, sandbank, sandbar, sands, school, scores, shallow, shallow-rooted, shallows, shelf, shoal water, shoals, skin-deep, skulk, slight, sloth, spit, superficial, surface, swarm, thin, throng, tidal flats, tidy sum, trip, trivial, troop, undercurrent, undertow, unprofound, wetlands, worlds of

ROGET THESAURUS

shoal

Assemblage

N assemblage, collection, collocation, colligation, compilation, levy, gathering, ingathering, muster, attroupement, team, concourse, conflux, congregation, contesseration, convergence, meeting, levee, reunion, drawing room, at home, conversazione, assembly, congress, convention, conventicle, gemote, conclave, posse, posse comitatus, Noah's ark, miscellany, collectanea, museum, menagerie, museology, crowd, throng, group, flood, rush, deluge, rabble, mob, press, crush, cohue, horde, body, tribe, crew, gang, knot, squad, band, party, swarm, shoal, school, covey, flock, herd, drove, atajo, bunch, drive, force, mulada, remuda, roundup, array, bevy, galaxy, corps, company, troop, troupe, task force, army, regiment, host, populousness, clan, brotherhood, fraternity, sorority, association, volley, shower, storm, cloud, group, cluster, Pleiades, clump, pencil, set, batch, lot, pack, budget, assortment, bunch, parcel, packet, package, bundle, fascine, fasces, bale, seron, seroon, fagot, wisp, truss, tuft, shock, rick, fardel, stack, sheaf, haycock, fascicle, fascicule, fasciculus, gavel, hattock, stook, accumulation, congeries, heap, lump, pile, rouleau, tissue, mass, pyramid, bing, drift, snowball, snowdrift, acervation, cumulation, glomeration, agglomeration, conglobation, conglomeration, conglomerate, coacervate, coacervation, coagmentation, aggregation, concentration, congestion, omnium gaterum, spicilegium, black hole of Calcutta, quantity, collector, gatherer, whip, whipper in, assembled, closely packed, dense, serried, crowded to suffocation, teeming, swarming, populous, as thick as hops, all of a heap, fasciculated cumulative, the plot thickens, acervatim, tibi seris tibi metis.

Multitude

N multitude, numerous, numerosity, numerality, multiplicity, profusion, legion, host, great number, large number, round number, enormous number, a quantity, numbers, array, sight, army, sea, galaxy, scores, peck, bushel, shoal, swarm, draught, bevy, cloud, flock, herd, drove, flight, covey, hive, brood, litter, farrow, fry, nest, crowd, lots, all in the world and his wife, greater number, majority, multiplication, multiple, many, several, sundry, divers, various, not a few, Briarean, a hundred, a thousand, a myriad, a million, a quadrillion, a nonillion, a thousand and one, some ten or a dozen, some forty or fifty, half a dozen, half a hundred, very many, full many, ever so many, numerous, numerose, profuse, in profusion, manifold, multiplied, multitudinous, multiple, multinominal, teeming, populous, peopled, crowded, thick, studded, galore, thick coming, many more, more than one can tell, a world of, no end of, no end to, cum multis aliis, thick as hops, thick as hail, plenty as blackberries, numerous as the stars in the firmament, numerous as the sands on the seashore, numerous as the hairs on the head, and what not, and heaven knows what, endless, their name is 'legion', acervatim, en foule, many- headed multitude, numerous as glittering gems of morning dew, vel prece vel pretio.

Shallowness

N shallowness, shoals, mere scratch, shallow, slight, superficial, skin deep, ankle deep, knee deep, just enough to wet one's feet, shoal, shoaly.