Shoal
Shoal , noun
[Anglo-Saxon scolu, sceolu, a company, multitude, crowd, akin to Old Saxon skola; probably originally, a division, and akin to Icelandic skilja to part, divide. See Skill, and compare School. of fishes.]
A great multitude assembled; a crowd; a throng; -- said especially of fish; as, a shoal of bass.
Great shoals of people.
Beneath, a shoal of silver fishes glides.
Shoal , intransitive verb
To assemble in a multitude; to throng; as, the fishes shoaled about the place. — Chapman
Shoal , adjective
[Compare Shallow; or compare German scholle a clod, glebe, Old High German scollo, scolla, prob. akin to English shoal a multitude.]
Having little depth; shallow; as, shoal water.
Shoal , noun
1.
A place where the water of a sea, lake, river, pond, etc., is shallow; a shallow.
The depth of your pond should be six feet; and on the sides some shoals for the fish to lay their span.
Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor.
2.
A sandbank or bar which makes the water shoal.
The god himself with ready trident stands,
And opes the deep, and spreads the moving sands,
Then heaves them off the shoals.
Shoal , intransitive verb
To become shallow; as, the color of the water shows where it shoals.
Shoal , transitive verb
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