E. Ind. Also 9 jeil, jeel. [Hindī jhīl.] A pool or lagoon (in India) often of vast extent, left after an inundation.
1805. Lond. Gaz., Extraord. No. 27 April. We found the enemy very strongly encamped … a large jeel of water extending to their right.
1824. Heber, Jrnl. (1828), I. 207. I did not take the direct northern course by the great jeels.
1845. Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 336. ‘The pigs’ come out of their own accord, to take the air or wallow in some neighbouring jheel.
1885. Encycl. Brit., XVIII. 71/2. Numerous shallow ponds or jhíls mark the former beds of the shifting rivers. These jhíls have great value, not only as preservatives against inundation, but also as reservoirs for irrigation.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 28 Jan., 7/3. A performance which would not be amiss in the best snipe jheels of India.
