pool2

noun

• 1a shared supply of vehicles or resources to be drawn on when needed:a car pool
• a group of people available for work when required or considered as a resource:the typing pool
• a common fund into which all contributors pay and from which financial backing is provided:big public investment pools
• the collective amount of players' stakes in gambling or sweepstakes; a kitty: dividends are calculated by dividing the net pool by the stakes on the winners
• (usually the pools)another term for football pool.a small win on the pools

• 2 [mass noun] a game played on a small billiard table using two sets of seven coloured and numbered balls together with one black ball and a white cue ball, with the aim of pocketing all one’s own balls and then the black.

• 3a group of contestants who compete against each other in a tournament for the right to advance to the next round: the sides in Pool A

• 4an arrangement, illegal in many countries, between competing parties to fix prices or rates and share business in order to eliminate competition: pool arrangements by the competing networks reduce individual costs

verb

• (of two or more people or organizations) put (money or other assets) into a common fund:they entered a contract to pool any gains and invest them profitably
• share (resources or information) for the benefit of all involved:the skills of teachers can be pooled and shared