▪ I. pond, n.
(pɒnd)
Also 4–7 ponde, 4–5 poond(e, pounde, 5 poynde, 5–6 pownde, (7 pon); dial. 7–9 pownd, 9 pound.
[ME. ponde, app. a variant of pound n.2, which is commonly used in the same sense in Sc., and Eng. dialects.]
1. a. A small body of still water of artificial formation, its bed being either hollowed out of the soil or formed by embanking and damming up a natural hollow. Often described according to its use, etc., as a compensation-pond (for a canal, etc.), duck-pond, fish-pond, mill-pond, parish pond or village pond, skating-pond or curling-pond, etc. Formerly often spec. = fish-pond.
| a 1300 K. Horn 1173 (Laud. MS.) My net hys ney honde In a wel fayr ponde [Harl. MS. hende..pende; Cambr. MS. stronde]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 69 Wateres fallynge of þe hiȝest hill of Paradys makeþ a grete ponde [aquae lacum efficiunt]. 1388 Wyclif Ps. cxiii[i]. 8 Which turnede a stoon in to pondis [v.r. a poond; 1382 poolis] of watris. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xiv. (1495) 447 A ponde is water gaderyd to fedynge of fysshe, though ofte gaderynge of water wythout fysshe be callyd ponde by contrary meanynge. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 652/35 Hoc stagnum, poynde. c 1450 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 228 Hit is a shrewde pole, pounde, or a welle, That drownythe the dowghty, and bryngethe hem abeere. 1483 Cath. Angl. 286/1 A Poonde,..piscina, stagnum, viuarium. 1552 Huloet, Ponde for fyshe, lucana, piscina... Ponde to washe shepe in, probatica piscina. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxviii. 1197 Near to the foot..it makes a little pon, Which in a little space converteth wood to stone. 1622 Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 60 A Pond is a standing Ditch cast by labor of mans hand in his private grounds for his private use,..but a Pool is a low plat of ground by nature, and is not cast by mans hand. 1676 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 34 Drownded by the breaking of ice upon a pond where he was sliding. 1684 G. Meriton Praise Yorks. Ale 132 Our awd meer is slidden into th' pownd. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 346 A large pond, or ditch, on the east side of the city wall being drained. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v. Pounded, A mill-pound is the backwater which is held in reserve for the supply of the mill. 1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I am ii, The pond and the fountain were as old as the house. |
b. Locally in England (
esp. in Surrey), also in New England, etc., applied to a natural pool, tarn, mere, or small lake; in colonial use also to a pool in a river or stream.
| 1480 Caxton Descr. Brit. 6 Ther is a grete ponde that conteyneth lx ilondes. 1693 H. Kelsey Kelsey Papers (1929) 3 This wood is poplo ridges with small ponds of water. There is beavour in abundance but no Otter. 1765 T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. I. 459 The Nipnets..were seated upon some lesser rivers and lakes or large ponds, more within the continent. 1794 A. Thomas Newfoundland Jrnl. (1968) 27 In this Island is a fresh water pond a full mile in length, and in it are large Eels and other Fish. 1801 J. Quincy in Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc. (1889) 2nd Ser. IV. 132 Nantucket whale-fishers pursuing perch in a pond half a mile in circumference are objects ludicrous enough. 1809 Kendall Trav. II. 39 Valleys and hollows that contain small streams, and lakes or pools, in New England always denominated ponds. 1831 J. J. Audubon Ornith. Biogr. I. 479 It searches for food..by the margins of such inland lakes as, on account of their small size, are called by us ponds. 1835 Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. I. 234 A tranquil part of the river, such as the colonists call a ‘pond’. 1900 G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impress. xiv. 304 The county of Surrey, with..its numerous heaths, its lonely tarns modestly called ‘ponds’, its hollow lanes. 1948 Canad. Geogr. Jrnl. Mar. 49/1 Everyone knows what a lake is and there are lakes of all sizes from coast to coast, but if you happen to reside in the Eastern Townships of Quebec you may find your lake is called a pond. 1969 H. Horwood Newfoundland 220 In Newfoundland almost all lakes, no matter how large, are called ‘ponds’. 1974 Maclean's Mag. Dec. 83/2 The Syncrude pond will cover nine square miles. |
c. transf. and
fig.| 1526 Tindale Rev. xix. 20 These bothe were cast into a ponde off fyre burnynge with brymstone. 1555 R. Smith in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1697/1 That I may passe out of this ponde, Wherein I am opprest. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 65 His pond of quicksilver is considerable, containing 250lb. |
d. = lagoon1 4.
| 1956 K. Imhoff et al. Disposal of Sewage xii. 205 The area of pond required for waste purification may be computed by means of the oxygen balance. 1961 Bolton & Klein Sewage Treatm. vi. 88. If properly operated, the ponds are reasonably free from bad smells, due possibly to the deodorizing effect of the chlorophyll in the algae. 1973 T. H. Y. Tebbutt Water Sci. & Technol. ix. 138 In warm climates biological treatment is sometimes achieved in oxidation ponds. 1978 Coal Option (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) 8 Substantial research is also going into agglomeration processes to recover coal from potential waste material, such as the effluent streams from existing colliery washeries, and coal from existing slurry ponds and tips. |
2. Applied
fig. or humorously to the sea,
esp. the Atlantic Ocean:
cf. herring-pond.
| 1641 Time's Alterations in N. Wallington Notices Chas. I (1869) II. App. 306 It seems that you have taken flight over the great Pond, pray what newes in England? 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 374 Through this Womb of moisture the great pond of the World (as Bishop Hall terms the Ocean). 1780 Royal Gaz. (N.Y.) 22 Jan., Then Jack was sent across the Pond To take her in the rear, Sir. 1832 Motley Corr. (1889) I. ii. 11, I should have been very sorry to have crossed the Atlantic (or the pond, as the sailors call it) without a single storm. 1864 Thoreau Cape Cod x. (1894) 329 It is but a step from the glassy surface of the Herring Ponds to the big Atlantic Pond where the waves never cease to break. 1902 Outing (U.S.) June 345/1 [They] have hardly sustained their reputation on either side of the big pond. |
3. In a canal:
= pound n.2 q.v. 4. attrib. and
Comb., as
pond-beetle,
pond-carp,
pond-dregs,
pond-earth,
pond-keeper,
pond-maker,
pond-mud,
pond-mussel,
pond-side,
pond-water;
pond-apple, a small tree (
Anona laurifolia) of the W. Indies and Gulf States, or its fruit (
Cent. Dict. 1890);
pond-barrow Archæol.: see
quots.;
pond-bay, a dam;
† pond-caster, one who digs out ponds;
pond-culture, the keeping of fish in ponds; hence
pond-cultured a.;
pond-dogwood, the Button-bush of N. America (
Cephalanthus occidentalis);
pond-duck, the wild duck;
pond-fish, (
a) a fish usually reared in a pond, as the carp; (
b)
spec. in
U.S., a fish of the genus
Pomotis or
Lepomis, a sunfish or pond-perch;
pond-head, a bank or dam which confines a pond;
pond-hunter, a naturalist who investigates pond-life;
pond-land, marsh, fen-land;
pond-life, the animals,
esp. the invertebrata, that live in ponds or stagnant water;
pond-perch = pond-fish (b);
pond-pickerel = pickerel1 b;
pond-pine, see
pine n.2 2;
pond-shrimp, a fairy shrimp (
fairy C. 2);
pond-skater, an aquatic insect belonging to the family Gerridæ, found on the surface of fresh or salt water;
pond-snail, any freshwater snail inhabiting ponds;
esp. one belonging to the genus
Limnæa;
pond-spice, a N.
Amer. shrub (
Litsea or Tetranthera geniculata) growing in sandy swamps (Miller
Plant-n. 1884);
pond tortoise,
-turtle (
U.S.), any freshwater tortoise of the family Emydidæ; a terrapin or mud-turtle;
pondwort,
knight's p., Water-soldier (
Stratiotes);
† pond-yard, a yard containing a fish-pond or ponds.
| 1845 Statist. Acc. Scotl. XIV. Ross-shire 254 On the north-west side of Knock-farril is a circular enclosure or ring, formed of small stones, having the earth somewhat scooped out in the interior... They are not unlike the *pond-barrows of Wales... The common people call them fairyfolds. 1941 Proc. Prehist. Soc. VII. 89 The so-called pond-barrow consists of a slight depression,..the material from which has been placed round the circumference to form an embanked rim. 1963 Field Archaeol. (Ordnance Survey) (ed. 4) 47 The pond barrow appears as a regular circular shallow depression,..surrounded by a small bank. |
| 1863 Smiles Indust. Biog. 32 Dams of earth, called ‘*pond-bays’, were thrown across watercourses. |
| 1602 Burford Reg. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) Varr. Collect. I. 166 [Wages for the day] For a *Bondcaster..iij. 1655 Ibid. 172 For a Pondcaster v{supd}. |
| 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 127/2 *Pond-culture..has been practised for many centuries. 1977 Undercurrents June–July 30/3 The mirror carp is by far the best fish for pond culture in Britain. |
| 1972 Country Life 7 Dec. 1565/1 There are no public-health worries about eating *pond-cultured fish. |
| 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Observ. 22 *Pond-dregs laid on a clayey Meadow, in November, are of no obvious service. |
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VI. 129 *Pond-ducks..have a straight and narrow bill, a small hind toe, and a sharp pointed train. |
| a 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. ix. 208 Carps, Tench, and divers other *Pond-fish. |
| 1567 in F. J. Baigent Crondal Rec. (1891) 166 Mylles, weares, myldammes, brydges, pondes, and *ponde heades within the same mannor. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 24 On the sloping pond-head. |
| 1896 Daily News 12 Dec. 6/2 Kept in captivity..in the *pond-hunter's aquarium. |
| 1779 G. White Let. 7 May in Selborne (1789) i. 259 Five of those most rare birds..were shot upon the verge of Frinsham-pond... The *pond keeper says there were three brace in the flock. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 12 Jan. 5/2 The pondkeeper was unavoidably absent from his post. |
| 1686 1st Cent. Hist. Springfield (1899) II 270 Twenty acres..of *Pond or Low Land by the Way to Hadley. |
| 1886 E. A. Butler (title) *Pond Life. |
| 1632–3 Canterb. Marr. Licences (MS.), William Cook of Hollingbourne, *pondmaker. |
| 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 79 You must cool the Mould about the Roots with *Pond-mud and Cow⁓dung. |
| 1855 Kingsley Glaucus (1878) 67 The Common *Pond-Mussel (Anodon Cygneus). |
| 1621 Lady M. Wroth Urania 471 By a *Pond side, where the Stagge had taken soile. |
| 1895 L. C. Miall Nat. Hist. Aquatic Insects xiii. 382 The *Pond-skaters stand or run upon the surface of the water, which they dimple but do not break. 1923 E. A. Butler Biol. Brit. Hemiptera-Heteroptera 244 Popularly known as pond-skaters or water-measurers, they attract the attention of even the least observant by the free and easy way in which they dart along over the surface of the water. 1952 J. Clegg Freshwater Life xiii. 198 The Pond Skaters feed largely on dead or dying insects that fall on the water. 1973 Nature 9 Mar. 132/1 The family Gerridae..includes the common pond-skaters or water-striders. |
| 1855 C. Kingsley Glaucus 159 A few of the delicate *pond-snails (unless they devour your Vallisneria too rapidly). 1889 M. E. Bamford Up & Down Brooks 50 Pond-snails..surrounded by dancing beetles. 1952 J. Clegg Freshwater Life xvi. 261 The Pond Snails proper..belong mainly to the genus Limnaea. |
| 1896 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. V. 68 The *pond-tortoises differ by having the toes fully webbed, and also by the more elongated tail. 1896 List Anim. Zool. Soc. 556 Emys orbicularis (Linn.), European Pond-tortoise. |
| 1633 T. James Voy. 45 This *pond-water had a..lothsome smell. 1875 Huxley & Martin Elem. Biol. (1883) 47 Chara flourishes in pond-water under the influence of sunlight. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. ci. 143 Knights *Pondeworte. |
| 1485 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 235 Pro firma Piscarii vocat' le *pond-yarde per annum xvs. 1796 Sporting Mag. VII. 142 He..built Verulam House, close by the pond-yard. |
▪ II. pond, v. (
pɒnd)
[f. pond n. See also pound v.] 1. a. trans. To hold
back or dam
up (a stream) into or as into a pond; to pound.
| 1673 [implied in ponding vbl. n. a]. 1694 Ibid. 283 [He] did desire..the stream of Pacowseek Brooke to set a Saw mil on, and the Low land for ponding. 1742 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 3) I. 319 Another Flood-gate..ponds the whole River [Exe], so as to throw the waste Water, over a strong Stone Weir, into its natural Chanel. 1840 Evid. Hull Docks Comm. 139 The water was ponded above the North Bridge. 1865 Geikie Scen. & Geol. Scot. vii. 200 The mass of ice which choked up the mouth of Glen Spean, and ponded back the water. 1894 Sir C. Moncrieff in Working Men's Coll. Jrnl. Dec. 130 Drop-gates, to be kept down during low Nile so as to pond up the water. |
| fig. 1810 Bp. Copleston 1st Repl. Edin. Rev. Mem. (1851) 299 By so doing, we..pond back the wealth which ought to circulate through a thousand ducts and channels. |
b. To produce (a lake) by forming or acting as a dam.
| 1949 Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. LX. 1383/2 In southern Ohio it is claimed that certain coastal-plain plants..are still avoiding the deposits of the proglacial lakes that are supposed to have been ponded by the advancing Nebraskan ice in the upper drainage of the Teays River. 1971 Nature 8 Oct. 391/1 Potassium-argon determinations on trachyte lavas which possibly ponded the former Chemoigut lake gave results of 1·1 and 1·2 m.y. |
2. intr. Of water, etc.: To form a pool or pond; to collect by being held back.
| 1857 [implied in ponding vbl. n. a]. 1893 H. M. Wilson in Whitby Gaz. 3 Nov. 3/7 So that no sewage can pond in the channels or escape from them. |
† 3. trans. a. To confine in a pond.
b. To dip or submerge in a pond.
Obs. rare.
| 1589 [implied in ponded ppl. a. a]. 1657 J. Watts Dipper Sprinkled 107 You ran out to the Anabaptist to be dipt and laver'd in a Pond, or to be ponded and plunged at Laver [in Essex]. |
▪ III. pond, -e obs. forms of
pound, weight, etc.