What is "shoal"

Shoal \Shoal\, n.

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.
   --Mortimer.

   Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory, And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor.
   --Shak.

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.
   --Dryden.

Shoal \Shoal\, n. [AS. scolu, sceolu, a company, multitude, crowd, akin to OS. skola; probably originally, a division, and akin to Icel. skilja to part, divide. See Skill, and cf. School. of fishes.] A great multitude assembled; a crowd; a throng; -- said especially of fish; as, a shoal of bass. ``Great shoals of people.''
--Bacon.

Beneath, a shoal of silver fishes glides.
--Waller.

Shoal \Shoal\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Shoaled; p. pr. & vb. n. Shoaling.] To assemble in a multitude; to throng; as, the fishes shoaled about the place.
--Chapman.

Shoal \Shoal\,

1. [Cf. Shallow; or cf. G. scholle a clod, glebe, OHG. scollo, scolla, pro

2. akin to E. shoal a multitude.] Having little depth; shallow; as, shoal water.

Shoal \Shoal\, v. i. To become shallow; as, the color of the water shows where it shoals.

Shoal \Shoal\, v. t. 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.

"place of shallow water," c.1300, from Old English schealde (adj.), from sceald "shallow," from Proto-Germanic *skala- (cognates: Swedish skäll "thin;" Low German schol, Frisian skol "not deep"), of uncertain origin. The terminal -d was dropped 16c.

"large number" (especially of fish), 1570s, apparently identical with Old English scolu "band, troop, crowd of fish" (see school (n.2)); but perhaps rather a 16c. adoption of cognate Middle Dutch schole.

"assemble in a multitude," c.1600, from shoal (n.2). Related: Shoaled; shoaling.

Etymology 1

1. (context now rare English) shallow. alt. (context now rare English) shallow. n. A sandbank or sandbar creating a shallow. v

2. 1 To arrive at a shallow (or less deep) are

   1. 2 To cause a shallowing; to come to a more shallow part of. 3 To become shallow. Etymology 2

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

   2. To collect in a shoal; to throng.

1. n. a sandbank in a stretch of water that is visible at low tide

2. a stretch of shallow water [syn: shallow]

3. a large group of fish; "a school of small glittering fish swam by" [syn: school]

4. v. make shallow; "The silt shallowed the canal" [syn: shallow]

5. become shallow; "the lake shallowed over time" [syn: shallow]

A shoal is a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping.

Shoal, shoals or shoaling may also refer to:

In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth Sciences, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. Often it refers to those submerged ridges, banks, or bars that rise near enough to the surface of a body of water as to constitute a danger to navigation. Shoals are also known as sandbanks, sandbars, or gravelbars. Two or more shoals that are either separated by shared troughs or interconnected by past and or present sedimentary and hydrographic processes are referred to as a shoal complex.

The term shoal is also used in a number of ways that can be either similar or quite different from how it is used in the geologic, geomorphic, and oceanographic literature. Sometimes, this terms refers to either (1) any relatively shallow place in a stream, lake, sea, or other body of water; (2) a rocky area on the sea floor within an area mapped for navigation purposes; (3) a growth of vegetation on the bottom of a deep lake that occurs at any depth; (4) and as a verb for the process of proceeding from a greater to a lesser depth of water.