Definition of "shoal" [shoal]

• A shallow place in a body of water. (noun)
• A sandy elevation of the bottom of a body of water, constituting a hazard to navigation; a sandbank or sandbar. (noun)
• To become shallow: The river shoals suddenly here from eight to two fathoms. (verb-intransitive)
• To make shallow: The approach to the harbor was shoaled in the storm. (verb-transitive)
• To come or sail into a shallower part of. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In 2000, the Korean researchers did experimental tests on 'Tianchi trout' found in shoal waters that measured 85 centimeters in length and weighed 7.7 kilos, but they've never been able to test trout from the deeper waters of Tianchi Lake."
• "To our astonishment, although a considerable distance from land, we were in shoal water the whole of the day, supposed to be a sand-bank, the water by times being quite discoloured."
• "I had success using a minnow-imitation type of bait known as a shoal digger tipped with a small black and chartreuse plastic grub that was presented with a subtle jigging motion."