Definition of shoal

• n. - A great multitude assembled; a crowd; a throng; -- said especially of fish; as, a shoal of bass.
• v. i. - To assemble in a multitude; to throng; as, the fishes shoaled about the place.
• a. - Having little depth; shallow; as, shoal water.
• n. - A place where the water of a sea, lake, river, pond, etc., is shallow; a shallow.
• n. - A sandbank or bar which makes the water shoal.
• v. i. - To become shallow; as, the color of the water shows where it shoals.
• 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.