fountains

Noun

fountain (plural fountains)

1. (originally) A natural source of water; a spring.
   • A little fountaine became a riuer, and there was light, & the Sunne, and much water: this riuer is Eſther, whō the King married and made Queene.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Esther 10:6

   Synonyms:

   fount, syke, wellspring

2. An artificial, usually ornamental, water feature (usually in a garden or public place) consisting of one or more streams of water originating from a statue or other structure.
   • His house is right beside that fountain on Street 15.
3. The structure from which an artificial fountain can issue.
   • As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, →OL
4. A reservoir from which liquid can be drawn.
   • They heard her rouse the sleeping servant, and with her enter the kitchen; then the noise of a fire being lighted and the fountain being filled came to the watchers.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 208
5. (figuratively) A source or origin of a flow (e.g., of favors or knowledge).
   • Nothing will pleaſe ſome Men, but Books ſtuff’d with Antiquity, groaning under the weight of Learned Quotations drawn from the Fountains: And what is all this but Pilfering.1700, Tom Brown, Amusements Serious and Comical, calculated for the Meridian of London, page 5
6. A roundel barry wavy argent and azure.
   • Crest : A boar's head couped gold semy of fountains armed gules. Motto : REMIS VELISQUE. Granted by the College of Arms 1966.1928, New England Historic Genealogical Society. Committee on Heraldry, A Roll of Arms

See all 24 meanings of fountain