# pond

Pronunciation: say "POND" US /pɑnd/, UK /pɒnd/

## Noun

1. A small inland body of standing water, whether natural or made by people, that is smaller than a lake.
   - Simple: A small inland body of still water, smaller than a lake.
   - _A heron stood motionless at the edge of the pond._
   - _The farmer dug a pond to collect rainwater for the cattle._
2. The Atlantic Ocean treated informally as a narrow divide between Europe and North America, chiefly in the expression "across the pond." *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A playful name for the Atlantic Ocean, used mostly in the phrase "across the pond."
   - _She's been working on the other side of the pond for nearly a decade._
   - _Plenty of British comedies have found big audiences across the pond._
6. An inland body of standing water of any size that is fed by springs instead of by a river.
   - Simple: A body of still water, fed by springs rather than a river, that can be any size.
   - _Geologists noted that the pond was spring-fed and connected to no stream._
   - _A deep spring keeps the pond full even during the driest summers._

## Verb

3. To gather and remain as a body of standing water; to pool.
   - Simple: To collect and sit as still water in one place.
   - _After heavy rain, water ponds in the low corner of the field._
   - _Meltwater began to pond against the frozen ground._
4. To hold back flowing water so that it escapes only through evaporation or seepage, as a dam does.
   - Simple: To block flowing water so it can only leave by drying up or soaking away.
   - _Engineers ponded the runoff behind a low earthen barrier._
   - _The settlers chose to pond the brook so the water would not drain away._
5. To collect water into a pond by damming it; to turn a flow of water into a standing pool.
   - Simple: To gather water into a pond by blocking its flow.
   - _Beavers ponded the stream until a wide pool formed behind their dam._
   - _Villagers learned to pond the seasonal flow for irrigation._

## Origin

From Middle English pond or ponde ("pond, pool"), probably from an Old English form seen in place names, a variant of a word meaning "enclosure." It is a doublet of pound.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pond (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).