pond

Etymology 1

From Middle English pond, ponde (“pond, pool”), probably from Old English *pond, *pand (attested in placenames), a variant of *pund (“enclosure”). Doublet of pound.

noun

1. An inland body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is smaller than a lake.
2. An inland body of standing water of any size that is fed by springs rather than by a river.
3. (colloquial) The Atlantic Ocean. Especially in across the pond.
   I wonder how they do this on the other side of the pond.
   I haven't been back home across the pond in twenty years.

verb

1. (transitive) To 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, page 201
2. (transitive) To make into a pond; to collect, as water, in a pond by damming.
3. (intransitive) To form a pond; to pool.

Etymology 2

Clipping of ponder.

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To ponder.
   Pleaseth you, pond your suppliant's plaint. 1579, Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender