shoal

«shoal» in Mova's school dictionary: a large group of fish swimming together — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a shoal, shoals); adjective/verb (shoal, shoals, shoaled, shoaling — rare)

meaning for a pupil

1) A shoal is a large group of fish swimming together. tree →

2) A shoal is also a shallow place in a sea or river, often a sandbank, that can be dangerous for boats. tree →

3) (informal, UK) A shoal of things is a large number of them: shoals of letters. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons, fish swim in shoals for safety: it is harder for a predator to pick out one fish, and many eyes spot danger. Herring, sardines and mackerel form shoals. In geography and history, ships ran aground on shoals near coasts; lighthouses warn of them. Phrases: «a shoal of fish», «swim in shoals», «run aground on a shoal».

examples

• A shoal of silver fish flashed past the boat. tree →
• Fish swim in shoals to stay safe from sharks. tree →
• The dolphins herded the shoal of sardines into a ball. tree →
• The ship ran aground on a hidden shoal. tree →
• Shoals of mackerel came close to the shore. tree →
• The lighthouse warns sailors about the shoals. tree →
• Men can’t come down the cliffs, even if there were any men; and the shoals to seaward would knock a ship to splinters. tree →

note

A «school» of fish means almost the same; scientists sometimes say a shoal is a loose group and a school moves together. Collective nouns: a shoal of fish, a flock of birds, a herd of cows.

In the corpora

• Piranhas have razor-sharp teeth and tear at dead or injured fish, but most are timid scavengers that shoal for safety.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «shoal» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.