A waterhole is a small pool of water in a dry place — a hollow in the ground where water gathers and stays — and it matters because in dry country it may be the only water for many kilometres. Wild animals come to it to drink. That is the picture the word carries: Africa, dry grassland, elephants and zebras and lions all arriving at the same small pool. Because everyone must come, the waterhole is also where the danger is, and nature films love filming there. You will see it written 'waterhole', 'water hole', and sometimes 'watering hole' — all normal. There is a second use worth knowing, and it is a joke made from the first: people call a bar or a pub 'a watering hole'. 'That place is a popular watering hole for journalists.' The joke is treating humans like thirsty animals coming to drink. This one is nearly always 'watering hole', not 'waterhole', and it is friendly and slightly humorous — fine in conversation and in a newspaper, but do not put it in a serious report. One warning for the internet age: in computer security, a 'watering hole attack' means putting a virus on a website that a certain group of people all visit — the attacker waits at the place the prey comes to. Same picture again.

水坑、水塘（乾旱地區野生動物飲水的小水塘）；引申戲稱酒吧為「常去的水坑」時，英文用 watering hole。