fount

English

Etymology 1

Clipping of fountain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faʊnt/
• Rhymes: -aʊnt

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

fount (plural founts)

1. Something from which water flows.
   • 1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge:

     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.

2. A device from which poultry may drink.
3. (figuratively) That from which something flows or proceeds; a source.

   He is a real fount of knowledge!

   • 1759, Robert Robinson, “Hymn I”, in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Church of Christ: Meeting in Angel-Alley‎^[1], page 3:

     Come, thou Fount of ev'ry Bleſſing,
     Tune my Heart to ſing thy Grace:
     Streams of Mercy never ceaſing,
     Call for Songs of loudeſt Praiſe:

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXIV, page 41:

     And was the day of my delight
     ⁠As pure and perfect as I say?
     ⁠The very source and fount of Day
     Is dash’d with wandering isles of night.

Synonyms

• font
• fountain
• (device from which animals drink): waterer

Derived terms

• fount of all wisdom
• fount of honor
• fount of honour
• lamp fount

 

Translations

something from which water flows

• Aragonese: fuent (an) f
• Bulgarian: извор (bg) m (izvor), изто́чник (bg) m (iztóčnik)
• Extremaduran: fuenti, huenti
• French: source (fr) f, fontaine (fr) f, fontaine (fr) f
• German: Quelle (de) f
• Greek: πηγή (el) f (pigí), βρύση (el) f (vrýsi), κρήνη (el) f (kríni)
• Italian: fonte (it) f
• Latin: fons (la) m
• Malayalam: ഉറവ (ml) (uṟava)
• Middle English: sours
• Ottoman Turkish: قایناق (kaynak), چشمه (çeşme)
• Russian: исто́чник (ru) m (istóčnik), ключ (ru) m (ključ)
• Spanish: fuente (es) f

metaphorical source

• Aragonese: fuent (an) f
• Bulgarian: първоизточник (bg) m (pǎrvoiztočnik)
• Extremaduran: fuenti, huenti
• French: source (fr) f, origine (fr) f, origine (fr) f
• German: Quelle (de) f, Born (de) m
• Greek: πηγή (el) f (pigí)
• Italian: fonte (it) f
• Middle English: sours
• Portuguese: fonte (pt) f
• Russian: исто́чник (ru) m (istóčnik), первоисто́чник (ru) m (pervoistóčnik)
• Spanish: fuente (es) f

drinking device for animals — see waterer

Etymology 2

From Middle French fonte, feminine past participle of verb fondre (“to melt”).

Alternative forms

• font

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɒnt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Homophone: font

Noun

fount (plural founts)

1. (typography, UK, dated) A typographic font.
   • 1892, Herbert Giles, A Chinese–English Dictionary, Preface:

     For the small characters it was in fact imperative to use such a fount as was available; not to mention that no strictly accurate fount of Chinese type has as yet been cast.

   • 1933, Dorothy Sayers, chapter 4, in Murder Must Advertise:

     Mr. Tallboy corrected the misprints, damned their eyes for using the wrong name-block, made it clear to them that they had set the headlines in the wrong fount, cut the proof to pieces, pasted it up again in the correct size, and returned it.

   • 1940 May, G. W. J. Potter, “Tickets of the Great Southern Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 292:

     The company is to be congratulated on the neatness and businesslike look of the tickets, and also on the very clear and artistic founts of type which are used.

References

• “fount” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Bringhurst, Robert (2002). The Elements of Typographic Style, version 2.5, pp 291–2. Vancouver, Hartley & Marks. →ISBN.
• “fount”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• futon, FUTON, Ufton

Occitan

Noun

fount f (plural founts)

1. spring, fountain