well

Adverb

well (comparative better, superlative best)

1. Accurately, competently, satisfactorily.
   • He does his job well.
   • My RV runs well on diesel.

   Synonyms:

   OK

2. Completely, fully.
   • I prefer a well done steak.
   • Cook the potatoes well to ensure they aren't tough.
3. (degree) To a significant degree.
   • That author is well known.
   • A monument well worth seeing
4. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang, degree) Very (as a general-purpose intensifier).
   • That guy rocks! I think he's called Matthew Lillard or sommat but he is well cool in Scream.1999, Drummond Pearson, “What Ash are doing right now...”, in alt.music.ash (Usenet)
   • Hey Dude / FIFA 2003 is well wicked, I've got FIFA 2002 on PS2, David Beckham on Xbox and Football Manager on Xbox too, out of all pf^([sic]) them FIFA 2003 is easliy^([sic]) the best.2002, jibaili, “FIFA 2003 How is it?”, in microsoft.public.xbox (Usenet)
5. In a desirable manner; so as one could wish; satisfactorily; favourably; advantageously.
   • I'm glad Joe got fired last week. I think we're well rid of him.
   • Whatever now the omen prove, It boded well to you.1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number)

Adjective

well (comparative better or weller, superlative best or wellest)

1. In good health.
   • I've been sick, but now I'm well.
   • I've always been a healthy, fit woman, but right now I really don't feel very well.

   Synonyms:

   OK, hot

2. Highly satisfactory
   • Everything well with you?

   Synonyms:

   OK

3. Good, content.
   • “How are you?” — “I'm well, thank you!”
   • Paulina. As she liu'd peerelesse,
     So her dead likenesse I doe well beleeue
     Excells what euer yet you look'd vpon,
     Or hand of Man hath done: therefore I keepe it
     Louely, apart. But here it is: prepare
     To see the Life as liuely mock'd, as euer
     Still Sleepe mock'd Death: behold, and say 'tis well.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

   Synonyms:

   OK

4. (uncommon) Prudent; good; well-advised.
   • In this respect it would be well for you to depart from the standard format and to indicate why you did what you did.2014, Tom Mitchell, Assoc. Prof., “Psych 308/309 GUIDE FOR WRITING PROJECT REPORT”, in Academic website, archived from the original on 04 Dec 2014
   • When executing bone scan protocols, it is well for one to be aware of how key deviations from optimal technique can degrade image quality.2004 September 1, Sleiman Y. Naddaf, MD with B. David Collier, MD, Abdelhamid H. Elgazzar, MD, and Magdy M. Khalil, MSc, “Technical Errors in Planar Bone Scanning”, in Kathy S. Thomas, editor...
5. (archaic, now chiefly Bermuda) Good to eat; tasty, delicious.
   • This wahoo tastes val.1984, Peter A. Smith, Fred M. Barritt, Bermewjan Vurds, Island Press
   • Drunk, like, a gallon of orange mindral. Tasted wel.2013 September 5, James Burton, “Burton's Banter: Our rich dialogue — as moreish as a cold burr...”, in The Bermuda Sun, archived from the original on 12 Dec 2022

Interjection

1. Used as a discourse marker.
   • “So, what have you been doing?” “Well, we went for a picnic; and then it started raining, so we came home early.”
   • A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF KINK HISTORY
     Do we know how kinky practices began? Do we know who the first kinky people were? Well, no.2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 32
   1. Used as a hedge.
      • “The car is broken.” “Well, we could walk to the movies instead.”
      • “I didn't like the music.” “Well, I thought it was good.”
   2. Expressing reluctance to say something.
      • “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
      • It was a bit... well, too loud.
2. An exclamation of sarcastic surprise (often doubled or tripled and in a lowering intonation).
   • Well, well, well, what do we have here?
3. An exclamation of indignance.
   • Well! There was no need to say that in front of my mother!
4. (Ireland) Used as a greeting, short for "Are you well?"
   • Well, lads? How's things?
5. Used as a question to demand an answer from someone.
   • And what do you think you're doing? ... Well?

Noun

well (plural wells)

1. A hole sunk into the ground as a source of water, oil, natural gas or other fluids.
   • The woman said unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John iv:11
   • By the end of the tenth century, Edith's humility had inspired a cult of holy wells in Kent, Staffordshire, and Herefordshire.1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 170
2. A place where a liquid such as water surfaces naturally; a spring.
   • Begin, then, sisters of the sacred well.1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC
3. A small depression, e.g. suitable for holding liquid or other objects.
   • Make a well in the dough mixture and pour in the milk.
   • Four fixed windows are fitted on the corridor side of the body and nine louvred air intakes on the opposite side. Rubber water drainage pipes are taken from these, and from the pantograph roof well, down the inside of the body.1960 February, “High-Voltage Electric Locomotive for British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 125
4. (figuratively) A source of supply.
   • Dan Chaucer, well of English undefyled1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 32
   • A well of serious thought and pure, / Too deep for earthly light.1827, [John Keble], “St. Philip and St. James”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J....
5. A vertical, cylindrical trunk in a ship, reaching down to the lowest part of the hull, through which the bilge pumps operate.
6. The cockpit of a sailboat.
7. A compartment in the middle of the hold of a fishing vessel, made tight at the sides, but having holes perforated in the bottom to let in water to keep fish alive while they are transported to market.
8. A vertical passage in the stern into which an auxiliary screw propeller may be drawn up out of the water.
9. A hole or excavation in the earth, in mining, from which run branches or galleries.

   Synonyms:

   shaft

10. An opening through the floors of a building, as for a staircase or an elevator; a wellhole.
11. The open space between the bench and the counsel tables in a courtroom.
12. The lower part of a furnace, into which the metal falls.

Verb

well (third-person singular simple present wells, present participle welling, simple past and past participle welled)

1. (intransitive) To issue forth, as water from the earth; to flow; to spring.
   • [Blood] welled from out the wound.1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
   • [Yon spring] wells softly forth.1824, William Cullen Bryant, A Forest Hymn
2. (intransitive) To have something seep out of the surface.
   • Her eyes welled with tears.

Proper noun capitalized: Well

Well

1. A small village in Long Sutton parish, Hart district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU7646).
2. A small village and civil parish in East Lindsey district, Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref TF4473).
3. A village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, previously in Hambleton district (OS grid ref SE2681).
4. A village in Maasdriel municipality, Gelderland province, Netherlands.
5. A village in Bergen municipality, Limburg province, Netherlands.