founts

Noun

fount (plural founts)

1. (archaic, poetic) Synonym of fountain (“a natural source of water”); a spring.
   • VVhy ſhould the vvorme intrude the maiden bud? / Or hatefull Kuckcovves [cuckoos] hatch in Sparrovvs neſts? / Or Todes infect faire founts vvith venome mud? / […] / But no perfection is ſo abſolute, / That ſome impuritie doth not pollute.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, signature G, recto

   Synonyms:

   font, fountain

2. (archaic, broadly) A device from which poultry may drink; a waterer.
   • A. H. Hews & Co., North Cambridge, Mass. Manufacturers of Poultry Water Founts. Capacities one quart, two quarts, three quarts, and four quarts. For sale, wholesale and retail.1872 July, “Price Lists Received”, in The Poultry World. For the Fancier, Family, and Market Poulterer, volume I, number 7, Hartford, Conn.: H. H. Stoddard, →OCLC, page 90, column 2
3. (figuratively) That from which something proceeds; an origin, a source.
   • He is a real fount of knowledge!