Pool

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) In rifle shooting, a contest in which each competitor pays a certain sum for every shot he makes, the net proceeds being divided among the winners.

(2): ( n.) A small and rather deep collection of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream; a reservoir for water; as, the pools of Solomon.

(3): ( n.) A small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.

(4): ( n.) The stake played for in certain games of cards, billiards, etc.; an aggregated stake to which each player has contributed a snare; also, the receptacle for the stakes.

(5): ( n.) A game at billiards, in which each of the players stakes a certain sum, the winner taking the whole; also, in public billiard rooms, a game in which the loser pays the entrance fee for all who engage in the game; a game of skill in pocketing the balls on a pool table.

(6): ( v. i.) To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction.

(7): ( n.) Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join.

(8): ( n.) A combination of persons contributing money to be used for the purpose of increasing or depressing the market price of stocks, grain, or other commodities; also, the aggregate of the sums so contributed; as, the pool took all the wheat offered below the limit; he put $10,000 into the pool.

(9): ( n.) A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.

(10): ( n.) An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities.

(11): ( v. t.) To put together; to contribute to a common fund, on the basis of a mutual division of profits or losses; to make a common interest of; as, the companies pooled their traffic.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 2 Samuel 2:13 2 Kings 18:17 20:20 1 Kings 22:38 Nehemiah 2:14 Nehemiah 3:15 Ecclesiastes 2:6 Song of Solomon 7:4 Isaiah 22:9,11

The "pool of Bethesda" ( John 5:2,4,7 ) and the "pool of Siloam" ( John 9:7,11 ) are also mentioned. ( Isaiah 35:7 ) says, "The parched ground shall become a pool." This is rendered in the Revised Version "glowing sand," etc. (marg., "the mirage," etc.). The Arabs call the mirage "serab," plainly the same as the Hebrew word Sarab , Here rendered "parched ground." "The mirage shall become a pool", i.e., the mock-lake of the burning desert shall become a real lake, "the pledge of refreshment and joy." The "pools" spoken of in   Isaiah 14:23 are the marshes caused by the ruin of the canals of the Euphrates in the neighbourhood of Babylon.

The cisterns or pools of the Holy City are for the most part excavations beneath the surface. Such are the vast cisterns in the temple hill that have recently been discovered by the engineers of the Palestine Exploration Fund. These underground caverns are about thirty-five in number, and are capable of storing about ten million gallons of water. They are connected with one another by passages and tunnels.

Holman Bible Dictionary

The following are some of the principal pools mentioned in Scripture: pool of Hezekiah ( 2 Kings 20:20 ), upper and lower pools of Gihon ( Isaiah 7:3;  Isaiah 22:9 ), old pool ( Isaiah 22:11 ), King's pool at Jerusalem ( Nehemiah 2:14 ), pool of Bethesda ( John 5:2 ,John 5:2, 5:4 ,John 5:4, 5:7 ), and pool of Siloam ( John 9:7 ,John 9:7, 9:11 ). Solomon also made pools to water his nursery ( Ecclesiastes 2:6 ).

Most of the pools near the cities were carved from stone, fed by rainwater channeled into them by channels cut in the rock. Pools were natural meeting places ( John 9:7 ). Pools are also used as an illustration of God's power to transform the barren into something fruitful ( Isaiah 41:18 ), judgment ( Isaiah 42:15 ), and the beauty of a woman's eyes (Song of  Song of Solomon 7:4 ). See Cistern : Reservoir; Pond .

C. Dale Hill

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Berakah . Reservoir for water, whether supplied by springs or rain ( Isaiah 42:15). The drying up of the pools involved drought and national distress. The three pools of Solomon near Bethlehem are famous, and still supply Jerusalem with water by an aqueduct ( Ecclesiastes 2:6). Partly hewn in the rock, partly built with masonry; all lined with cement; formed on successive levels with conduits from the upper to the lower; with flights of steps from the top to the bottom of each: in the sides of Etham valley, with a dam across its opening, which forms the eastern side of the lowest pool. The upper pool is 380 ft. long, 236 broad at the E., 229 at the W., 25 deep, 160 above the middle pool. This middle pool is 423 long, 250 broad at the E., 160 at the W., 39 deep, 248 above the lower pool. The lower pool is 582 long, 207 broad at the E., 148 at the W., 50 deep. A spring above is the main source (Robinson, Res. 1:348, 474).

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Κολυμβήθρα (Strong'S #2861 — Noun Feminine — kolumbethra — kol-oom-bay'-thrah )

denotes "a swimming pool" (akin to kolumbao, "to swim,"  Acts 27:43 ),  John 5:2 (ver. 4 in some mss.),7; 9:7 (ver. 11 in some mss.).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Pool. Pools, like the tanks of India, are in many parts of Palestine and Syria, the only resource for water, during the dry season, and the failure of them involves drought and calamity.  Isaiah 42:15. Of the various pools mentioned in Scripture, perhaps the most celebrated are the pools of Solomon near Bethlehem called by the Arabs El-Burak , from which an aqueduct was carried, which still supplies Jerusalem with wafer.  Ecclesiastes 2:6;  Sirach 24:30-31.

King James Dictionary

POOL, n. L. palus Gr. probably from setting, standing, like L. stagnum, or from issuing, as a spring.

A small collection of water in a hollow place, supplied by a spring, and discharging its surplus water by an outlet. It is smaller than a lake, and in New England is never confounded with pond or lake. It signifies with us, a spring with a small basin or reservoir on the surface of the earth. It is used by writers with more latitude, and sometimes signifies a body of stagnant water.

POOL

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Copyright StatementThese files are public domain. Bibliography InformationMcClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Pool'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/p/pool.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.