Pond

Pond

Noun · /pɒnd/ · a small, still body of water

Definition

A pond is a small, enclosed body of still or slow-moving water, usually shallow enough for aquatic plants to grow across the bottom. It is smaller than a lake — though the boundary is informal — and is found in gardens, parks, farmland, and the countryside. In British culture, the garden pond is an institution: a place of frogs, water lilies, dragonflies, and quiet contemplation.

Origin

From Middle English ponde, a dialect variant of pound — an enclosed body of water, derived from Old English pund, meaning an enclosure. The pond was literally the enclosed water, the impounded water, the water held in place. The word became distinct from its homophone by the 16th century. Informally, the Pond or the big pond has been used as a humorous British and American name for the Atlantic Ocean since the 17th century.