Meaning

(chiefly poetic, dated or archaic) Synonym of fountain (“a natural source of water”); a spring..

Definitions by Sense

1. (chiefly poetic, dated or archaic) Synonym of fountain (“a natural source of water”); a spring.
2. (by extension, agriculture, archaic) A device from which poultry may drink; a waterer.
3. (figurative) That from which something proceeds; an origin, a source.
4. (chiefly British) Archaic spelling of font.
5. (US, Southern) Alternative form of found (past tense of find)

Example Sentences

VVhy ſhould the vvorme intrude the maiden bud? / Or hatefull Kuckcovves [cuckoos] hatch in Sparrovvs neſts? / Or Todes infect faire founts vvith venome mud? / […] / But no perfection is ſo abſolute, / That ſome impuritie doth not pollute.

[T]his top-proud fellovv, / […] / From ſincere motions, by Intelligence, / And proofes as cleere as Founts in Iuly, vvhen / VVee ſee each graine of grauell; I doe knovv / To be corrupt and treaſonous.

[F]rom that Saphire Fount the criſped Brooks, / Rovvling on Orient Pearl and ſands of Gold, / VVith mazie error under pendant ſhades / Ran Nectar, viſiting each plant, and fed / Flours vvorthy of Paradiſe […]

[F]rom the rock, vvith liquid lapſe diſtills / A limpid fount; that ſpread in parting rills / Its current thence to ſerve the city brings: […]

High to their fount, this day, amid the hills, / And vvoodlands vvarbling round, trace up the brooks; […]

[I]f a perſon did but call at a poor farmer's to aſk the vvay to any place, it vvas next to a cuſtom to aſk him to drink a mug of beer or cyder, and eat a cruſt of bread and cheeſe. But alas! alas! It is not ſo novv. No, it is all over! The graceful cuſtom's loſt; and the thirſty friend and hunger-bitten traveller may ſuck the cryſtal fount, or lick the duſt!

And what adds beauty to utility, and both finely blended, is the fountain in the front door yard. The jet is about ten feet high, the water falling into a circular fount, or reservoir, about fifteen feet in diameter and two feet deep. […] The arrangement of the pipes is such at the fount that the water is conveyed to the barn for the stock, to the kitchen for culinary purposes, or permitted to pass through the jet at pleasure.

At the town-pump there were gathered when he passed a few old inhabitants, who came there for water whenever they had, as at present, spare time to fetch it, because it was purer from that original fount than from their own wells.

Word Forms

• founts

Synonyms for fount

Related Words

When Should You Use Fount?

Use fount when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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