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shoal¹

(shōl)

1. A shallow place in a body of water.

2. A sandy elevation of the bottom of a body of water, constituting a hazard to navigation; a sandbank or sandbar.

v. shoaled, shoal·ing, shoals

v.intr.

To become shallow: The river shoals suddenly here from eight to two fathoms.

v.tr.

1. To make shallow: The approach to the harbor was shoaled in the storm.

2. To come or sail into a shallower part of.

adj.

Having little depth; shallow.

[Middle English shold, shallow, shallows, from Old English sceald, shallow.]

shoal²

(shōl)

1. A large school of fish or other aquatic animals.

2. A large group; a crowd: a shoal of advisers.

intr.v. shoaled, shoal·ing, shoals

To come together in large numbers: The fish were shoaling.

[Probably Middle Low German or Middle Dutch schōle; see skel-¹ in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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