Word of the Day for Saturday, October 19, 2013 shoal \shohl\, noun: 1. a place where a sea, river, or other body of water is shallow. 2. a sandbank or sand bar in the bed of a body of water, especially one that is exposed above the surface of the water at low tide. adjective: 1. of little depth, as water; shallow. verb: 1. to become shallow or more shallow. 2. to cause to become shallow. 3. Nautical. to sail so as to lessen the depth of (the water under a vessel). A few minutes later Tom was in the shoal water of the bar, wading toward the Illinois shore. Before the depth reached his middle he was half way over; the current would permit no more wading, now, so he struck out confidently to swim the remaining hundred yards. -- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876 That piece of land is permeated with a perfect shoal of mineral springs. -- Ada Clare, Only a Womans Heart, 1886 Shoal comes from the Old English term sceald meaning shallow. It was spelled with a d up until the 1500s.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 12:11:52 +0000
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