Forms: 5–6 fontayn(e, -eyn(e, 5–7 -taine, fountayn(e, 6 fontane, 6–7 fountaine, 7– fountain. [late ME. fontayne, a. OF. fontaine:—late L. fontāna (whence Pr., Sp., Pg., It. fontana, Welsh ffynnawn, -on), fem. of L. fontānus pertaining to a fount, f. font-. fons FOUNT sb.1]
1. A spring or source of water issuing from the earth and collecting in a basin, natural or artificial; also, the head-spring or source of a stream or river. Now arch. or poet. exc. fig.
c. 1450. Merlin, 308. To this fountayn ofte tyme com nimiane for to disporte.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xviii. 400. A fore the gate sprange a quycke fontaine.
1535. Coverdale, Gen. viii. 2. The fountaynes of the depe and the wyndowes of heauen were stopte.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., II. v. 23.
| Alas, a crimson riuer of warme blood, | |
| Like to a bubling Fountaine stird with winde, | |
| Doth rise and fall betweene thy Rosed lips, | |
| Comming and going with thy honnie breath. |
1635. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., II. ix. 163. Some would haue the great riuer Tanais not to haue his head or fountaine in the Riphaean mountains.
1671. Milton, Samson, 581.
| But God, who caus’d a fountain at thy prayer | |
| From the dry ground to spring, thy thirst to allay | |
| After the brunt of battel, can as easie | |
| Cause light again within thy eies to spring. |
1692. Ray, Dissol. World, II. ii. (1732), 83. Making Rivers to ascend to their Fountains.
1727. Dyer, Grongar Hill, 20.
| So oft I have, the ev’ning still, | |
| At the fountain of a rill, | |
| Sate upon a flow’ry bed, | |
| With my hand beneath my head. |
1812. Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana (1814), 105. The greatest objection to this country is the want of fountains and running streams.
1842. Tennyson, Amphion, 93.
| Better to me the meanest weed | |
| That blows upon its mountain, | |
| The vilest herb that runs to seed | |
| Beside its native fountain. |
b. used with reference to baptism (cf. FONT).
[1526. Tindale, Eph. v. 26. Clensed it in the fountayne of water thorowe the worde.]
1548–9. (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Offices, 8. Them which at this fountayne forsake the deuill and all his workes.
c. transf.
1526–34. Tindale, Mark v. 29. And streyght waye her fountayne of bloude was dreyed vppe.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. i. 90.
| You men, you beasts, | |
| That quench the fire of your pernicious rage | |
| With purple fountains issuing from your veins. |
d. fig. A spring, source, ‘well.’ (Often in pl.)
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., I. (1495), 6. God is the fountayne of all godenesse and of all vertue.
14[?]. Balade to our Ladie (Chaucer’s Wks., 1561). Fountain al filthlesse, as birell current clere.
1481. Caxton, Mirrour of the World, I. vi. 30. Parys, Oxenford and Cambryge ben the fontayns where men may drawe out most science, and more in Parys than in other places.
1548–9. (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Post-Communion. Almightie God, the fountayn of all wisdome.
1589. Pasquil’s Ret., C iij. This mischiefe hath many fountaines, which I will reduce for thy sake into a little compass.
1660. Barrow, Euclid, Pref. (1714), 3. Some principal Rules of practical Geometry, reducing them to their original Fountains.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. 223. The French law, which is derived from the same feodal fountain.
1844. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const. xvii. (1862), 268. The Crown is the fountain of honour, and can alone confer any rank or precedence.
1861. Tulloch, Eng. Purit., i. 116. Charles was hopeless; long-practised craft had poisoned the very fountains of trust in him, and treaty with him was no longer possible.
2. A jet or stream of water made to rise or spout up artificially; the structure built for such a jet or stream to rise and fall in; also, an erection in a public place for a constant supply of fresh water for drinking (more fully, drinking fountain). Applied also to a natural jet of water, as that of a geyser.
1509. Hawes, The Pastime of Pleasure, XVIII. ix.
| A dulcet spring and marvaylous fountaine, | |
| Of golde and asure made all certaine. |
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 60.
| And in the midst of all, a fountaine stood, | |
| Of richest substaunce, that on earth might bee. |
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., II. ii. 77.
| She dreampt to night, she saw my Statue, | |
| Which like a Fountaine, with an hundred spouts | |
| Did run pure blood: and many lusty Romans | |
| Came smiling, & did bathe their hands in it. |
1625. Bacon, Ess., Gardens (Arb.), 561. Fountaines I intend to be of two Natures: The One that Sprinckleth or Spouteth Water; the Other a Faire Receipt of Water, of some Thirty or Forty Foot Square, but without Fish, or Slime, or Mud.
a. 1631. Donne, Poems (1650), 23.
| Make me a mandrake, so I may grow here, | |
| Or a stone fountaine weeping out the yeare. |
1717. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Lady Rich, 1 April. There were four fountains of cold water in this room.
1726. Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 28. It had been formerly a Fountain, but was only choak’d up with Filth by Neglect. I ask’d the old Eunuch if he had ever known it to play, and he answer’d in the negative, neither did they imagine it to be any such thing.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess., Art, Wks. (Bohn), I. 145.
| Let spouting fountains cool the air, | |
| Singing in the sun-baked square. |
1882. Cassell, s.v. Drinking-fountain, Modern drinking fountains began to be erected in Liverpool in 1857. The first one in London was opened to the public on April 12, 1859.
1886. A. Winchell, Walks & Talks Geol. Field, 84. Instantly the fountain [of the Great Geyser of Iceland] began to play with the utmost violence; a column rushed up to the height of ninety or one hundred feet, against the gray night sky, with mighty volume of white steam cloud rolling about it, and swept off by the breeze to fall in torrents of hot rain.
3. Her. A roundel, barry wavy of six, argent and azure.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, III. iv. 96. He beareth … a Bend … Betweene six Fountaines Proper.
1864. Boutell, Heraldry Hist. & Pop., v. 25. In representation, the Bezant, Plate, and Fountain, are flat, but the other Roundles are to appear spherical, and to be shaded accordingly.
1868. Cussans, Her., iv. 70. A Bend between six Fountains forms the Coat of the Stourton Family, borne in signification of the six springs whereof the River of Stoure, in Wiltshire, hath its beginning, and passeth along to Stourton, the seat of that Barony.
4. A reservoir or compartment for holding oil, ink, etc., in an Argand lamp, a printing-press, etc.
5. Conchol. (See quot.)
1895. Edin. Rev., Oct., 355. Fountains and watering-pots, tongue-shells and helmet-shells … names, which have been locally, and often very vaguely applied to a few of the multitudinous species of Mollusca.
6. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib. (chiefly appositive and fig. = belonging to or of the nature of a spring or source, original).
1645. Rutherford, Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845), 5. But the fountain-love, the fountain-delight, the fountain-joy of men and angels is more; for out of it floweth all the seas, springs, rivers, and floods of love, delight, and joy.
1648. Boyle, Seraph. Love, xviii. (1700), 111. His Love is the first Original and Fountain-blessing; all the rest are but as Pipes (and Instruments) to convey, and serve but to hand it to us.
a. 1652. J. Smith, Sel. Disc., IX. 446. When religion enters the soul, it charms all its restless rage and violent appetite, by discovering to it the universal fountain-fulness of one supreme almighty goodness.
1662. J. Chandler, Van Helmont’s Oriat., 286. The heat of things soulified, is not the Fountain-light of the soul; but a heating light of the vital life.
1678. Marvell, Def. Howe, Wks. 1875, IV. 192. It necessarily belongs to the original and fountain-Being to be the First Cause of whatsoever being.
1803–6. Wordsw., Intimat. Immort., ix.
| But for those first affections, | |
| Those Shadowy Recollections, | |
| Which, be they what they may, | |
| Are yet the fountain light of all our day. |
1846. Trench, Mirac., vi. (1862), 191. In contact with Him who is the fountain-flame of all life.
b. Comb., as fountain-brim, -side; fountain-fruitful adj.; also fountain-fish, a ctenophoran; fountain-pen, a pen furnished with an ink-reservoir; fountain-pipe, a pipe that supplies a fountain with water; fountain-tree, a name for the deodar (Treas. Bot., 1866); also, ‘a tree in the Canary Isles which distills water from its leaves’ (W.); † fountain-water, fresh water from a spring, spring-water.
1634. Milton, Comus, 119.
| By dimpled Brook, and *Fountain brim, | |
| The Wood-Nymphs deckt with Daisies trim. |
1641. G. Sandys, Paraphr. Song Sol., IV. ii.
| Those living Springs from thee proceed, | |
| Whose Drils our plants with moisture feed: | |
| Like Christall Streams which issue from | |
| The *Fountain-fruitfull Lebanon. |
1833. Dict. Math, & Phys. Sc., *Fountain-pen.
1892. E. Reeve, Homeward Bound, 164. One silver pocket-knife and fountain-pen.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 226. Look to your *Fountain-Pipes, and cover them with fresh and warm Littier out of the Stable, a good Thickness, lest the Frosts crack them.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 326. Stood whispering soft, by a fresh *Fountain side.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XV. 479.
| Nor near me any of your crew descry’d | |
| By road frequented, or by fountain side. |
1572. L. Mascall, Plant. & Graff. (1592), 78. Make a lectuary with the pouder of Cloues, of Cinamon, mingled with a little *Fountaine or running water.
1612. Enchir. Med., II. 7. Let it be boyled in foure pints of fountaine water.
1678. R. R[ussell], Geber, IV. iv. 245. Common Salt is dissolved in clear Fountain Water, and distilled through a Filter, and afterwards congealed in an Earthen Vessel, or in a Vessel of Lead, or other Metal.
