adv. (American).—An elliptical use of well is peculiar to American speech, especially at the beginning of sentences, as a mere expletive or in answer to questions. [LOWELL, The Biglow Papers, Int.: ‘Put before such a phrase as “How d’e do?” it is commonly short, and has the sound of wul, but in reply it is deliberative, and the various shades of meaning which can be conveyed by difference of intonation, and by prolonging or abbreviating, I should vainly attempt to describe. I have heard ooa-ahl, wahl, ahl, wăl, and something nearly approaching the sound of le in able. Sometimes before “I” it dwindles to a mere l; as, “’l I dunno.” A friend … told me that he once heard five “wells,” like pioneers, precede the answer to an inquiry about the price of land. The first was the ordinary wul, in deference to custom; the second, the long, perpending ooahl, with a falling inflection of the voice; the third, the same, but with the voice rising, as if in despair of a conclusion, into a plaintively nasal whine; the fourth, wulh, ending in the aspirate of a sigh; and then, fifth, came a short, sharp wal, showing that a conclusion had been reached.’]
TO DIG A WELL AT A RIVER, verb. phr. (old).—To act the fool, do the unnecessary (RAY).
TO PUT ONE IN A WELL (IN THE GARDEN, or IN A HOLE), verb. phr. (old).—1. To defraud an accomplice of his share of booty: also TO WELL ONE (GROSE).
2. (common).—To inconvenience, nonplus, or get the better of.
