shallows

1. 1
   nounplural

   A region within a large body of water marked by many stretches where the water stays shallow.

   The fishing boat skirted the shallows by following the marked channel.

   Herons wade through the shallows at dawn, spearing small fish.

   Similarshoals

   Oppositedepths

   Note

   Here the plural has no singular behind it. The word names one region as a whole and always takes plural agreement: these shallows, the shallows are treacherous. It sits naturally with verbs of careful passage, such as navigate, skirt and wade through. Unlike the ordinary plural, it does not count separate patches of water, so you cannot speak of three shallows in this sense.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of shallow.

   The shallows along this coast made navigation difficult for larger vessels.

   Minnows gather in the shallows during warm afternoons.

   Note

   A countable plural that covers every noun sense of shallow: separate shallow stretches of an otherwise deep body of water, several of the fish called the rudd, or, historically, costermongers' barrows. The same spelling also names the plural-only stretch of water and serves as a present-tense verb (the bay shallows). A number, a verb or a determiner nearby usually tells you which one you are reading.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of shallow.

   The channel shallows sharply just past the second buoy, forcing boats to slow.

   As the tide retreats, the bay shallows until the mudflats appear.

   Note

   The verb behind this form works in both directions. Water can shallow on its own, as when a channel shallows past a buoy. Something can also shallow it, as when silt shallows a harbor mouth. The transitive use is the one to remember when you need to name a cause, such as drifting sand, river silt or dumped spoil, rather than simply describe the water.

   Silt from the river slowly shallows the harbor mouth.

   Once dredging stops, the current shallows the channel again within a few seasons.

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