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fountain

See also: Fountain

Contents

EnglishEdit

 
A fountain in Stockholm, Sweden

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English [Term?]; from Old French fontaine (whence modern fontaine); from Late Latin fontana, from Latin fontanus, fontaneus, adjectives from fons (“source, spring”).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

fountain (plural fountains)

  1. (originally) A natural source of water; a spring.
    • 1611, Bible (King James Version), Esther 10:6:
      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.
  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.
  3. The structure from which an artificial fountain can issue.
    • 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, OL 1519647W:
      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.
  4. A reservoir from which liquid can be drawn.
  5. A source or origin of a flow (e.g., of favors or knowledge).
  6. (heraldry) A roundel barry wavy argent and azure.
  7. (juggling) A juggling pattern typically done with an even number of props where each prop is caught by the same hand that throws it.
  8. (US) A soda fountain.

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

terms derived from fountain (noun)

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

spring — see spring
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

VerbEdit

fountain (third-person singular simple present fountains, present participle fountaining, simple past and past participle fountained)

  1. (intransitive) To flow or gush as if from a fountain.
    Lava fountained from the volcano.
    • Tom Reamy, Blind Voices:
      The fireflies swept toward him from all directions, in streams and rivers and currents of light, a vortex a hundred yards across, spiraling into the brighter center. They met over his supine body like ocean breakers, cascading, fountaining into the air.

TranslationsEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ “fountain” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–.

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

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