Obs. [f. WELL adv., substituted for WEAL sb.1 under the influence of F. bien.]
1. Well-being, welfare, advantage, profit. a. In contrast to woe.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 687. Neuere … Ȝe nere out of myn hertis remembraunce For wel or wo, for carole or for daunce.
c. 1420. J. Page, Siege Rouen, in Hist. Coll. Citizen Lond. (Camden), 35. Thes were the syghtys of dyfferauns,… That one of welle and þat othyr of wo.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, III. 320. For the soulle when yt ys departed fro the body by dethe receyueth anon welle or wo.
1550. Crowley, Last Trumpet, 160. But do thou nothing wickedly, Neyther for wel nor yet for wo.
1600. W. Watson, Decacordon (1602), 350. A resolute intent … in well, and in woe, to remaine constant.
b. In general use; freq. in for the well of —.
1424. Coventry Leet Bk., 72. Ȝif it so be þat thei towche the well of the kyng … or his realme.
1440. in Wars Eng. in France (Rolls), II. 588. My saide lorde desireth that it like the king of his goode grace, for the grete welle of bothe his royaumes, to ordeyn,… that [etc.].
1497[?]. in Lett. Rich. III. & Hen. VII. (Rolls), II. 74. For the welle of hys saule he can noo lesse doo then sue for absolucion.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys, 229. For worldly ryches, the trouth nat playne to tell, Puttynge bodely profyte before eternall well.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. xx. 17 b. For ye well of the peace … we desyre them to sette to their seales.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 43. That may restore you to your wonted well.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IX. 414. Hungary aboundeth … in all things the earth can produce for the well of man.
a. 1645. Ld. Napier, Mem. (1793), 43. My Lord Lowdon … might have thought me willfull against my owne well.
2. Well public = WEAL-PUBLIC 2. rare–1.
1579. Lodge, Def. Plays, 6. Though Plato could wish the expulsion of Poetes from his well publiques,… yet the wisest had not all that same opinion.
3. Good or honorable report.
c. 1500. Melusine, 135. She … desired moche to see him for the well that it was said of hym.
[1802. Coleridge, Ode to Rain, 28. I’ll nothing speak of you but well.]
