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A great multitude assembled; a crowd; a throng; -- said especially of fish; as, a shoal of bass. "Great shoals of people." Bacon. Beneath, a shoal of silver fishes glides. Waller.

The quality or state of being shoaly; little depth of water; shallowness.

Becoming shallow gradually. "A shoaling estuary." Lyell.

Full of shoals, or shallow places. The tossing vessel sailed on shoaly ground. Dryden.

To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

A person who stands on a rock or eminence to espy the shoals of herring, etc., and to give notice to the men in boats which way they pass; a conder; a huer.

An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shoal, shelf, or shallow; as, the banks of Newfoundland.

A signal or conspicuous mark erected on an eminence near the shore, or moored in shoal water, as a guide to mariners.

nor; to act the part of a bully toward. For the last fortnight there have been prodigious shoals of volunteers gone over to bully the French, upon hearing the peace was just signing. Tatler.

mark a channel or to point out the position of something beneath the water, as an anchor, shoal, rock, etc. Anchor buoy, a buoy attached to, or marking the position of, an anchor. -- Bell buoy, a large buoy on which a bell is mounted, to be rung by the motion of the waves. -- Breeches buoy. See under Breeches. -- Ca…

watertight structure (as a large box or boxes) used to assist a vessel in passing over a shoal or bar or in navigating shallow water. By admitting water, the camel or camels may be sunk and attached beneath or at the sides of a vessel, and when the water is pumped out the vessel is lifted. Camel bird (Zoöl.), the ostr…

One who watches shoals of fish; a balker. See Balker.

To gather or throw into a heap; to heap together; to accumulate. Shoals of shells, bedded and cumulated heap upon heap. Woodward.

A reservoir and sluiceway beside a navigable stream, just above a shoal, so that the stream may pour in water as boats pass, and thus bear them over the shoal. Flash wheel (Mech.), a paddle wheel made to revolve in a breast or curved water way, by which water is lifted from the lower to the higher level.…

tle depth below the surface of water, or alternately covered and left bare by the tide; a shoal; a shallow; a strand. Half my power, this night Passing these flats, are taken by the tide. Shak.

. -- Floating light, a light shown at the masthead of a vessel moored over sunken rocks, shoals, etc., to warn mariners of danger; a light- ship; also, a light erected on a buoy or floating stage. -- Floating liver. (Med.) See Wandering liver, under Wandering. -- Floating pier, a landing stage or pier which rises an…

To provide. [Obs.] Great shoals of people, which go on to populate, without foreseeing means of life. Bacon.

of a harbor or other sheet of water, the depth of soundings, the position of channels and shoals, with the construction of charts exhibiting these particulars.

A vessel carrying at the masthead a brilliant light, and moored off a shoal or place of dangerous navigation as a guide for mariners.

Dancing the morrice; dancing. In shoals and bands, a morrice train. Wordsworth.