to shoal

1 6.5

To become less deep so boats cannot pass

: acercarse a la orilla

Liberia's main port in Monrovia is in poor condition, littered with wrecked vessels and, in parts, visibly shoaling.

Examples

Bottom is shoaling, captain, 25 fathoms.

Ice Station Zebra (1968)
That's a sign of troublesome places shoaling up.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)
The river widened where it shoaled, then began narrowing into a bottleneck as the bend came up.

Fiction book (2001)
By the 1890s, Lemon Creek had shoaled to such an extent that sloops could no longer reach the packing houses.

Academic text (1990)
The U.S. government dredged the creek in 1896 and 1902, but by 1912 it had shoaled to its original condition, and access to it was difficult again.

Academic text (1990)
As the boat approached the shore, the water began to shoal, indicating shallower depths.
Navigating through the inlet became challenging when the channel started to shoal unexpectedly.
The diver signaled to his team when he noticed the water had started to shoal near the reef.

to shallow

vsto shoal

1 4.6

To make something less deep

refers only to becoming less deep, not to making it less deep

to silt up

vsto shoal

1 6.9

To become filled with mud and sand so boats cannot pass in a river or harbor

is a general becoming less deep, not specifically from fine mud or blockage

to deepen

8 2.7

Make something have a greater distance from top to bottom

to dry up

19 2.7

to shoal

1 6.5

to run aground

10 6.7

to deepen

8 2.7

shoal infinitive

shoaled past

shoaled past participle

shoaling present participle

shoals third person singular

Shoal as a verb comes from the same old root meaning 'shallow', as in shallow, so to shoal is for water to become less deep.