A pond, or reservoir, for holding water (Hebrews berekhah; modern Arabic, birket), an artificial cistern or tank. Mention is made of the pool of Gibeon (2 Samuel 2:13); the pool of Hebron (4:12); the upper pool at Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:17; 20:20); the pool of Samaria (1 Kings 22:38); the king's pool (Nehemiah 2:14); the pool of Siloah (Nehemiah 3:15; Ecclesiastes 2:6); the fishpools of Heshbon (Cant. 7:4); the "lower pool," and the "old pool" (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.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (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.

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

3. (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.

4. (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.

5. (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.

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

7. (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 USD10,000 into the pool.

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

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

10. (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.

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