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ˈwell-spring
[OE. welspryng, wylspring: see well n.1 and spring n.1]
1. The source or head-spring of a stream; a fountain-head.
c1000ælfric Hom. I. 22 God..asende ren of heofonum feowertiᵹ daᵹa togædere, and ᵹeopenode þær toᵹeanes ealle wyllspringas. c1100Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 178/9 Latex, welspreng. c1250Gen. & Ex. 1243 An angel..Taȝte her ðor a welle spring. c1305St. Kenelm 293 in E.E.P. (1862) 55 A wil spring vp þere stod Of þe stede þer he lai on. c1450Merlin xx. 338 A litill brooke that com rennynge of two welle sprynges of a mountayne. 1549–62Sternhold & H. Ps. xlii. 1 Like as the hart doth breath and bray the well⁓springs to obtaine. 1613–16W. Browne Brit. Past. i. i. 12 When of that streame he had discouered The fount, the well-spring, or the bubling head, He there would sit. 1645–50Boate Ireland's Nat. Hist. vii. (1652) 54 The water of these Well-springs is for the most part cool, clear, and pure. 1796Marshall Rur. Econ. Midl. II. Gloss., Wall-spring. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 290 Such ditches..should be cut at the feet of the adjacent rising grounds..so as to intercept the wall-springs and land-floods. 1877J. D. Chambers Div. Worship 233 The Water..drawn recently from a well-spring.
2. fig. A source of perennial emanation or supply.
c897ælfred Gregory's Past. C. lxv. 467 Ðæs wæterscipes welsprynge is on hefonrice. c1000ælfric Hom. I. 52 Seo soðe lufu is wylspring and ordfruma ealra godnyssa. a1240Ureisun in O.E. Hom. I. 195 Al englene were..Siggeð and singeð þet tu ert liues welsprung. 1534More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1208/1 Surely y⊇ riche mannes substaunce, is y⊇ welspring of the poore mannes liuing. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades i. vi. 54 True fayth is the welspryng and roote of all vertues. 1611Bible Prov. xvi. 22 Vnderstanding is a well-spring of life vnto him that hath it. 1632Lithgow Trav. ii. 75 This City was the Mother & Well-spring of all liberall Arts and Sciences. c1710Prior My Birthday 13 Well-spring of all my joy and woe, Clotilda. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxix, It was because they bore in their own hearts an inexhaustible well-spring of affection and devotion. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. II. xxii. 21 War for liberty became unexpectedly a well-spring of opulence. |