shoal

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ʃəʊl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl

Etymology 1

Old English sceald, from Proto-Germanic *skalda-. Compare shallow.

Adjective

shoal (comparative more shoal, superlative most shoal)

1. (now rare) Shallow.
   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, III.19:

     But that part of the coast being shoal and bare, / And rough with reefs which ran out many a mile, / His port lay on the other side o' the isle.

Noun

shoal (plural shoals)

1. A sandbank or sandbar creating a shallow.

Synonyms

• (sandbank): sandbar, sandbank

Translations

sandbank

Czech: mělčina (cs) f. Dutch: zandbank (nl) c. Esperanto: sablejo (eo), sablobenko (eo) French: banc de sable (fr) German: Sandbank (de) f. Norwegian: sandbanke (no) m.

Russian: мелководье (ru) (m'elkovód'je) n., отмель (ru) (ótm'el') f., банка (ru) (bánka) f. Scottish Gaelic: oitir (gd) f. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: пличина (sh) f. Roman: pličina (sh) f. Spanish: bajío (es) m.

Verb

shoal (third-person singular simple present shoals, present participle shoaling, simple past and past participle shoaled)

1. To arrive at a shallow (or less deep) area.
2. To cause a shallowing.

Etymology 2

1570, presumably from Middle English *shole (“school of fish”), from Old English sceolu, scolu (“troop or band of people, host, multitude, division of army, school of fish”), from Proto-Germanic *skulō (“crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷel- (“crowd, people”). Cognate with West Frisian skoal (“shoal”), Middle Low German schōle (“multitude, troop”), Dutch school (“shoal of fishes”).

Noun

shoal (plural shoals)

1. Any large number of persons or things.
2. A large number of fish (or other sea creatures) of the same species swimming together.

Synonyms

• (fish): school

Translations

group of fish

Armenian: վտառ (hy) (vtaṙ) Czech: hejno (cs) n. Dutch: school (nl) f. French: banc de poissons (fr) m. German: Fischschwarm (de) m. Greek: κοπάδι (el) (kopádi) n. Irish: ráth (ga) f. Norwegian: stim (no) m.

Polish: ławica f. Russian: косяк (ru) (kos'ák) m., стая (ru) (stája) f. Scottish Gaelic: cliath (gd) f., sgaoth (gd) m. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: плова (sh) f. Roman: plova (sh) f. Spanish: banco (es) m., cardumen (es) m. Swedish: stim (sv) n.

Verb

shoal (third-person singular simple present shoals, present participle shoaling, simple past and past participle shoaled)

1. To collect in a shoal; to throng.

Anagrams

• halos
• shola
• solah