pond English · revision 10666

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|attested=c. 1300}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /pɒnd/, US /pɑːnd/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Middle English ponde is a variant of [[pound]], an enclosed place,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) a sense that pound still has in dialect.^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) The form appears earlier in pundpani, pond-penny (1248), a levy for the upkeep of ponds,^(Barnhart 1988) and in surnames from about 1200.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An artificially enclosed or banked body of water: about 1300, in King Horn.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A natural pool or small lake is not recorded before about 1350 in Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) and applied locally to natural pools from the late 15th century, 1480 in the OED, especially in Surrey and New England.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Humorously, the pond is the sea, especially the Atlantic Ocean, from the 1640s,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) as in ''across the pond''.^(OED 1989) ''Pond scum'' is from 1864.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1248 – pundpani, pond-penny.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1300 – an enclosed body of water.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1480 – a natural pool.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1640s – the Atlantic (humorous).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1864 – pond scum.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small body of still water, smaller than a [[lake]], often made artificially.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''the pond'' ''(humorous)'': the Atlantic Ocean.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fishpond]]

+ * [[millpond]]

+ * [[pondweed]]

+ * [[hammer pond]]

+ * [[pond apple]]

+ * [[pond cypress]]

+ * [[pond lily]]

+ * [[pond scum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pound]]

+ * [[impound]]

+ * [[pinfold]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}