Origin and history of pool-hall

Old English heall "spacious roofed residence, house; temple; law-court," any large place covered by a roof, from Proto-Germanic *hallo "covered place, hall" (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German halla, German halle, Dutch hal, Old Norse höll "hall;" Old English hell, Gothic halja "hell"), from PIE root *kel- (1) "to cover, conceal, save."

Sense of "passageway in a building" evolved 17c., from the time when the doors to private rooms opened onto the large public room of the house. Older sense preserved in town hall, music hall, etc., in use of the word in Britain and Southern U.S. for "manor house," also "main building of a college" (late 14c.). French halle, Italian alla are from Middle High German. Hall of fame attested by 1786 as an abstract concept; in sporting sense first attested 1901, in reference to Columbia College; the Baseball Hall of Fame opened in 1939. Related: Hall-of-famer.

game similar to billiards, by 1808; the name probably is from earlier pool "combination of persons playing a game, each staking a sum of money," a sense attested in card-playing from 1690s. Unlike two-person billiards, a game of pool required multiple players; pool might refer to the group or to the money staked. 

This is from French poule "stakes, booty, plunder," a word of uncertain origin. Sense evolution from a colloquial or proverbial use of poule "hen" (from Old French poille; see pullet) is possible. Early spelling pooile in English (1610s) also suggests French peuille "piece of a newly minted coin cut off for assaying" (said to be named for the wrapper they were kept in and thus from the same Latin source as English pall (n.)).

OF THE GAME.

It must be played with coloured balls, or with balls numbered seriatim, and with as many as there are players; or it may be played with two balls only; but the first method is most in vogue.

ROTATION. Each player is permitted to have three lives at the commencement; first of all paying his stake to the marker immediately upon his receiving his ball. The white ball, or No. 1, is to begin by placing his ball on the winning and losing spot No. 2 to play at No. 1 and all the players in regular succession as they must of necessity be marked upon the board, playing at the last player until a life be lost, and then the nearest ball is to be played at.

[Colonel B*****, "How to Play Billiards and Pool," 1842]

Billiards, a fascinating and destructive game, is equally universal ; I mean not the general game, but a species commonly called pool, which is played at almost every table ; our youth haunt these places with unaccountable eagerness, and stake large deposits on the uncertainty of a few minutes. ["The Eye," Philadelphia, March 24, 1808]

The sense of "common reservoir of resources" is from 1917. The meaning "group of persons who share duties or skills" (typist pool, etc.) is from 1920. It is attested from 1933 as short for football pool in wagering.

Pool shark is by 1898. The phrase dirty pool "underhanded or unsportsmanlike conduct," especially in politics (1951), suggests the game, but the phrase dirty pool of politics, with an image of pool (n.1) is recorded from 1871 and was in use early 20c.