pond

plural ponds

1. An inland body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is smaller than a lake.

   1 more example

   But when the moon rose and the breeze awakened, and the sedges stirred, and the cat's-paws raced across the moonlit ponds, and the far surf off Wonder Head intoned the hymn of the four winds, the trinity, earth and sky and water, became one thunderous symphony—a harmony of sound and colour silvered to a monochrome by the moon.

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

2. An inland body of standing water of any size that is fed by springs rather than by a river.

1. informalChiefly in across the pond: the Atlantic Ocean.

   I wonder how they do this on the other side of the pond.

   1 more example

   I haven’t been back home across the pond in twenty years.

present singular third person ponds · participle present ponding · participle past ponded · past ponded

1. transitiveTo block the flow of water so that it can escape only through evaporation or seepage; to dam.

   The rate of fall of the surface of water ponded over the soil within the ring gives a measure of the infiltration rate for the particular enclosed area.

   2004, Calvin W. Rose, An Introduction to the Environmental Physics of Soil, Water and Watersheds, →ISBN, page 201

2. transitiveTo make into a pond; to collect, as water, in a pond by damming.
3. intransitiveTo form a pond; to pool.

present singular third person ponds · participle present ponding · participle past ponded · past ponded

1. obsoletetransitiveTo ponder.

   Pleaseth you, pond your suppliant's plaint.

   1579, Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender

1. Alternative letter-case form of the pond (“the Atlantic Ocean”).

   The legendary liner is retiring from transatlantic sailing after 33 years of crossing the Pond between New York and Southampton, England.

   2002 October 13, Renee Vogel, “Queenly Succession”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Dec 2025

   3 more examples

   The Pond, as it is dismissively known, is certainly in need of a revamp. Its waters have been despoiled and plundered to the brink of disaster – and in the case of the Grand Banks cod fishery, sent over that edge into deathly extinction.

   2010 October 8, Kevin Rushby, “Atlantic: A Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester – review”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Jan 2014

   Perhaps it is a reflection of a larger cultural shift. Arguably, the distance between Britain and the United States (please, not the Pond) is as small as it has ever been.

   2012 October 10, Alex Williams, “Americans Are Barmy Over Britishisms”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Oct 2012

   We have the ATLANTIC OCEAN running down the center of our grid today and, on either side of the “Pond,” Mr. Trudeau has managed to symmetrically place the British and American English equivalents for four words.

   2017 February 8, Deb Amlen, “Monumental Work”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Feb 2017

plural Ponds

1. A surname.

   "How do you know?" asked Mr Pond rather snappishly and in unusual irritation.

   1929, G. K. Chesterton, The Poet and the Lunatics

   1 more example

   Hi, I’m Max Pond. I’m an active mormon, or member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

   2025 July 22, Max Pond, “What is Durfing? (Explained by a Mormon)”, in LDS Quotations, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2025