Definition: well
well
adj 1: in good health especially after having suffered illness or
injury; "appears to be entirely well"; "the wound is
nearly well"; "a well man"; "I think I'm well; at
least I feel well" [ant: ill]
2: resulting favorably; "its a good thing that I wasn't there";
"it is good that you stayed"; "it is well that no one saw
you"; "all's well that ends well" [syn: good, well]
3: wise or advantageous and hence advisable; "it would be well
to start early" [syn: well]
n 1: a deep hole or shaft dug or drilled to obtain water or oil
or gas or brine
2: a cavity or vessel used to contain liquid
3: an abundant source; "she was a well of information" [syn: wellspring,
fountainhead]
4: an open shaft through the floors of a building (as for a
stairway)
5: an enclosed compartment in a ship or plane for holding
something as e.g. fish or a plane's landing gear or for
protecting something as e.g. a ship's pumps
adv 1: (often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or
satisfactory manner or to a high standard; "the
children behaved well"; "a task well done"; "the party
went well"; "he slept well"; "a well-argued thesis";
"a well-planned party"; (`good' is a nonstandard
dialectal variant for `well' as in "the baby can walk
pretty good") [syn: good] [ant: ill]
2: thoroughly or completely; fully; often used as a combining
form; "The problem is well understood"; "she was well
informed"; "shake well before using"; "in order to avoid
food poisoning be sure the meat is well cooked";
"well-done beef", "well-satisfied customers";
"well-educated"
3: indicating high probability; in all likelihood; "I might
well do it"; "a mistake that could easily have ended in
disaster"; "you may well need your umbrella"; "he could
equally well be trying to deceive us" [syn: easily]
4: (used for emphasis or as an intensifier) "a book well worth
reading"; "was well aware of the difficulties ahead";
"suspected only too well what might be going on"
5: to a suitable or appropriate extent or degree; "the project
was well underway"; "the fetus has well developed organs";
"his father was well pleased with his grades"
6: favorably; with approval; "their neighbors spoke well of
them"; "he thought well of the book" [ant: ill]
7: to a great extent or degree; "I'm afraid the film was well
over budget"; "painting the room white made it seem
considerably (or substantially) larger"; "the house has
fallen considerably in value"; "the price went up
substantially" [syn: considerably, substantially]
8: with great or especially intimate knowledge; "we knew them
well [syn: intimately]
9: with prudence or propriety; "You would do well to say
nothing more"; "could not well refuse"
10: with skill or in a pleasing manner; "she dances well"; "he
writes well" [ant: badly]
11: in a manner affording benefit or advantage; "she married
well"; "The children were settled advantageously in
Seattle" [syn: advantageously] [ant: badly, badly]
12: in financial comfort; "They live well"; "she has been able
to live comfortably since her husband died" [syn: comfortably]
13: without unusual distress or resentment; with good humor;
"took the joke well"; "took the tragic news well" [ant: badly]
v : come up, as of liquids: "Tears well in her eyes" [syn: swell]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Well \Well\, n. [OE. welle, AS. wella, wylla, from weallan to
well up, surge, boil; akin to D. wel a spring or fountain.
????. See Well, v. i.]
1. An issue of water from the earth; a spring; a fountain.
Begin, then, sisters of the sacred well. --Milton.
2. A pit or hole sunk into the earth to such a depth as to
reach a supply of water, generally of a cylindrical form,
and often walled with stone or bricks to prevent the earth
from caving in.
The woman said unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to
draw with, and the well is deep. --John iv. 11.
3. A shaft made in the earth to obtain oil or brine.
4. Fig.: A source of supply; fountain; wellspring. ``This
well of mercy.'' --Chaucer.
Dan Chaucer, well of English undefiled. --Spenser.
A well of serious thought and pure. --Keble.
5. (Naut.)
(a) An inclosure in the middle of a vessel's hold, around
the pumps, from the bottom to the lower deck, to
preserve the pumps from damage and facilitate their
inspection.
(b) A compartment in the middle of the hold of a fishing
vessel, made tight at the sides, but having holes
perforated in the bottom to let in water for the
preservation of fish alive while they are transported
to market.
(c) A vertical passage in the stern into which an
auxiliary screw propeller may be drawn up out of
water.
(d) A depressed space in the after part of the deck; --
often called the cockpit.
6. (Mil.) A hole or excavation in the earth, in mining, from
which run branches or galleries.
7. (Arch.) An opening through the floors of a building, as
for a staircase or an elevator; a wellhole.
8. (Metal.) The lower part of a furnace, into which the metal
falls.
Artesian well, Driven well. See under Artesian, and
Driven.
Pump well. (Naut.) See Well, 5
(a), above.
Well boring, the art or process of boring an artesian well.
Well drain.
(a) A drain or vent for water, somewhat like a well or
pit, serving to discharge the water of wet land.
(b) A drain conducting to a well or pit.
Well room.
(a) A room where a well or spring is situated; especially,
one built over a mineral spring.
(b) (Naut.) A depression in the bottom of a boat, into
which water may run, and whence it is thrown out with
a scoop.
Well sinker, one who sinks or digs wells.
Well sinking, the art or process of sinking or digging
wells.
Well staircase (Arch.), a staircase having a wellhole (see
Wellhole
(b) ), as distinguished from one which occupies the whole
of the space left for it in the floor.
Well sweep. Same as Sweep, n., 12.
Well water, the water that flows into a well from
subterraneous springs; the water drawn from a well.
Well \Well\, v. t. To pour forth, as from a well. --Spenser.
Well \Well\, adv. [Compar. and superl. wanting, the deficiency being supplied by better and best, from another root.] [OE. wel, AS. wel; akin to OS., OFries., & D. wel, G. wohl, OHG. wola, wela, Icel. & Dan. vel, Sw. v["a]l, Goth. wa['i]la; originally meaning, according to one's will or wish. See Will, v. t., and cf. Wealth.] 1. In a good or proper manner; justly; rightly; not ill or wickedly. If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. --Gen. iv. 7. 2. Suitably to one's condition, to the occasion, or to a proposed end or use; suitably; abundantly; fully; adequately; thoroughly. Lot . . . beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere. --Gen. xiii. 10. WE are wellable to overcome it. --Num. xiii. 30. She looketh well to the ways of her household. --Prov. xxxi. 27. Servant of God, well done! well hast thou fought The better fight. --Milton. 3. Fully or about; -- used with numbers. [Obs.] ``Well a ten or twelve.'' --Chaucer. Well nine and twenty in a company. --Chaucer. 4. In such manner as is desirable; so as one could wish; satisfactorily; favorably; advantageously; conveniently. ``It boded well to you.'' --Dryden. Know In measure what the mind may well contain. --Milton. All the world speaks well of you. --Pope. 5. Considerably; not a little; far. Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age. --Gen. xviii. 11. Note: Well is sometimes used elliptically for it is well, as an expression of satisfaction with what has been said or done, and sometimes it expresses concession, or is merely expletive; as, well, the work is done; well, let us go; well, well, be it so. Note: Well, like above, ill, and so, is used before many participial adjectives in its usual adverbial senses, and subject to the same custom with regard to the use of the hyphen (see the Note under Ill, adv.); as, a well-affected supporter; he was well affected toward the project; a well-trained speaker; he was well trained in speaking; well-educated, or well educated; well-dressed, or well dressed; well-appearing; well-behaved; well-controlled; well-designed; well-directed; well-formed; well-meant; well-minded; well-ordered; well-performed; well-pleased; well-pleasing; well-seasoned; well-steered; well-tasted; well-told, etc. Such compound epithets usually have an obvious meaning, and since they may be formed at will, only a few of this class are given in the Vocabulary. As well. See under As. As well as, and also; together with; not less than; one as much as the other; as, a sickness long, as well as severe; London is the largest city in England, as well as the capital. Well enough, well or good in a moderate degree; so as to give satisfaction, or so as to require no alteration. Well off, in good condition; especially, in good condition as to property or any advantages; thriving; prosperous. Well to do, well off; prosperous; -- used also adjectively. ``The class well to do in the world.'' --J. H. Newman. Well to live, in easy circumstances; well off; well to do. --Shak.
Well \Well\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Welled; p. pr. & vb. n. Welling.] [OE. wellen, AS. wyllan, wellan, fr. weallan; akin to OFries. walla, OS. & OHG. wallan, G. wallen, Icel. vella, G. welle, wave, OHG. wella, walm, AS. wylm; cf. L. volvere to roll, Gr. ? to inwrap, ? to roll. Cf. Voluble, Wallop to boil, Wallow, Weld of metal.] To issue forth, as water from the earth; to flow; to spring. ``[Blood] welled from out the wound.'' --Dryden. ``[Yon spring] wells softly forth.'' --Bryant. From his two springs in Gojam's sunny realm, Pure welling out, he through the lucid lake Of fair Dambea rolls his infant streams. --Thomson.
We'll \We'll\ Contraction for we will or we shall. ``We'll follow them.'' --Shak.
Well \Well\, a.
1. Good in condition or circumstances; desirable, either in a
natural or moral sense; fortunate; convenient;
advantageous; happy; as, it is well for the country that
the crops did not fail; it is well that the mistake was
discovered.
It was well with us in Egypt. --Num. xi. 18.
2. Being in health; sound in body; not ailing, diseased, or
sick; healthy; as, a well man; the patient is perfectly
well. ``Your friends are well.'' --Shak.
Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake?
--Gen. xliii.
27.
3. Being in favor; favored; fortunate.
He followed the fortunes of that family, and was
well with Henry the Fourth. --Dryden.
4. (Marine Insurance) Safe; as, a chip warranted well at a
certain day and place. --Burrill.
7. To proceed by a mental operation; to pass in mind or by an
act of the memory or imagination; -- generally with over
or through.
By going over all these particulars, you may receive
some tolerable satisfaction about this great
subject. --South.
8. To be with young; to be pregnant; to gestate.
The fruit she goes with, I pray for heartily, that
it may find Good time, and live. --Shak.
9. To move from the person speaking, or from the point whence
the action is contemplated; to pass away; to leave; to
depart; -- in opposition to stay and come.
I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord
your God; . . . only ye shall not go very far away.
--Ex. viii.
28.
10. To pass away; to depart forever; to be lost or ruined; to
perish; to decline; to decease; to die.
By Saint George, he's gone! That spear wound hath
our master sped. --Sir W.
Scott.
11. To reach; to extend; to lead; as, a line goes across the
street; his land goes to the river; this road goes to New
York.
His amorous expressions go no further than virtue
may allow. --Dryden.
12. To have recourse; to resort; as, to go to law.
Note: Go is used, in combination with many prepositions and
adverbs, to denote motion of the kind indicated by the
preposition or adverb, in which, and not in the verb,
lies the principal force of the expression; as, to go
against to go into, to go out, to go aside, to go
astray, etc.
Go to, come; move; go away; -- a phrase of exclamation,
serious or ironical.
To go a-begging, not to be in demand; to be undesired.
To go about.
(a) To set about; to enter upon a scheme of action; to
undertake. ``They went about to slay him.'' --Acts
ix. 29.
They never go about . . . to hide or palliate
their vices. --Swift.
(b) (Naut.) To tack; to turn the head of a ship; to wear.
To go abraod.
(a) To go to a foreign country.
(b) To go out of doors.
(c) To become public; to be published or disclosed; to be
current.
Then went this saying abroad among the
brethren. --John xxi.
23.
To go against.
(a) To march against; to attack.
(b) To be in opposition to; to be disagreeable to.
To go ahead.
(a) To go in advance.
(b) To go on; to make progress; to proceed.
To go and come. See To come and go, under Come.
To go aside.
(a) To withdraw; to retire.
He . . . went aside privately into a desert
place. --Luke. ix.
10.
(b) To go from what is right; to err. --Num. v. 29.
To go back on.
(a) To retrace (one's path or footsteps).
(b) To abandon; to turn against; to betray. [Slang, U.
S.]
To go below
(Naut), to go below deck.
To go between, to interpose or mediate between; to be a
secret agent between parties; in a bad sense, to pander.
To go beyond. See under Beyond.
To go by, to pass away unnoticed; to omit.
To go by the board (Naut.), to fall or be carried
overboard; as, the mast went by the board.
To go down.
(a) To descend.
(b) To go below the horizon; as, the sun has gone down.
(c) To sink; to founder; -- said of ships, etc.
(d) To be swallowed; -- used literally or figuratively.
[Colloq.]
Nothing so ridiculous, . . . but it goes down
whole with him for truth. --L' Estrange.
To go far.
(a) To go to a distance.
(b) To have much weight or influence.
To go for.
(a) To go in quest of.
(b) To represent; to pass for.
(c) To favor; to advocate.
(d) To attack; to assault. [Low]
(e) To sell for; to be parted with for (a price).
To go for nothing, to be parted with for no compensation or
result; to have no value, efficacy, or influence; to count
for nothing.
To go forth.
(a) To depart from a place.
(b) To be divulged or made generally known; to emanate.
The law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of
the Lord from Jerusalem. --Micah iv. 2.
To go hard with, to trouble, pain, or endanger.
To go in, to engage in; to take part. [Colloq.]
To go in and out, to do the business of life; to live; to
have free access. --John x. 9.
To go in for. [Colloq.]
(a) To go for; to favor or advocate (a candidate, a
measure, etc.).
(b) To seek to acquire or attain to (wealth, honor,
preferment, etc.)
(c) To complete for (a reward, election, etc.).
(d) To make the object of one's labors, studies, etc.
He was as ready to go in for statistics as for
anything else. --Dickens.
To go in to or unto.
(a) To enter the presence of. --Esther iv. 16.
(b) To have sexual intercourse with. [Script.]
To go into.
(a) To speak of, investigate, or discuss (a question,
subject, etc.).
(b) To participate in (a war, a business, etc.).
To go large.
(Naut) See under Large.
To go off.
(a) To go away; to depart.
The leaders . . . will not go off until they
hear you. --Shak.
(b) To cease; to intermit; as, this sickness went off.
(c) To die. --Shak.
(d) To explode or be discharged; -- said of gunpowder, of
a gun, a mine, etc.
(e) To find a purchaser; to be sold or disposed of.
(f) To pass off; to take place; to be accomplished.
The wedding went off much as such affairs do.
--Mrs.
Caskell.
To go on.
(a) To proceed; to advance further; to continue; as, to
go on reading.
(b) To be put or drawn on; to fit over; as, the coat will
not go on.
To go all fours, to correspond exactly, point for point.
It is not easy to make a simile go on all fours.
--Macaulay.
To go out.
(a) To issue forth from a place.
(b) To go abroad; to make an excursion or expedition.
There are other men fitter to go out than I.
--Shak.
What went ye out for to see ? --Matt. xi. 7,
8, 9.
(c) To become diffused, divulged, or spread abroad, as
news, fame etc.
(d) To expire; to die; to cease; to come to an end; as,
the light has gone out.
Life itself goes out at thy displeasure.
--Addison.
To go over.
(a) To traverse; to cross, as a river, boundary, etc.; to
change sides.
I must not go over Jordan. --Deut. iv.
22.
Let me go over, and see the good land that is
beyond Jordan. --Deut. iii.
25.
Ishmael . . . departed to go over to the
Ammonites. --Jer. xli.
10.
(b) To read, or study; to examine; to review; as, to go
over one's accounts.
If we go over the laws of Christianity, we
shall find that . . . they enjoin the same
thing. --Tillotson.
(c) To transcend; to surpass.
(d) To be postponed; as, the bill went over for the
session.
(e) (Chem.) To be converted (into a specified substance
or material); as, monoclinic sulphur goes over into
orthorhombic, by standing; sucrose goes over into
dextrose and levulose.
To go through.
(a) To accomplish; as, to go through a work.
(b) To suffer; to endure to the end; as, to go through a
surgical operation or a tedious illness.
(c) To spend completely; to exhaust, as a fortune.
(d) To strip or despoil (one) of his property. [Slang]
(e) To botch or bungle a business. [Scot.]
To go through with, to perform, as a calculation, to the
end; to complete.
To go to ground.
(a) To escape into a hole; -- said of a hunted fox.
(b) To fall in battle.
To go to naught (Colloq.), to prove abortive, or
unavailling.
To go under.
(a) To set; -- said of the sun.
(b) To be known or recognized by (a name, title, etc.).
(c) To be overwhelmed, submerged, or defeated; to perish;
to succumb.
To go up, to come to nothing; to prove abortive; to fail.
[Slang]
To go upon, to act upon, as a foundation or hypothesis.
To go with.
(a) To accompany.
(b) To coincide or agree with.
(c) To suit; to harmonize with.
To go (
well,
ill, or
hard)
with, to affect (one) in such manner.
To go without, to be, or to remain, destitute of.
To go wrong.
(a) To take a wrong road or direction; to wander or
stray.
(b) To depart from virtue.
(c) To happen unfortunately.
(d) To miss success.
To let go, to allow to depart; to quit one's hold; to
release.
Source: V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms December 2001
WELL
Whole Earth 'Lectronic Net (network)
Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Well (Heb. beer), to be distinguished from a fountain (Heb. 'ain). A "beer" was a deep shaft, bored far under the rocky surface by the art of man, which contained water which percolated through the strata in its sides. Such wells were those of Jacob and Beersheba, etc. (see Gen. 21:19, 25, 30, 31; 24:11; 26:15, 18-25, 32, etc.). In the Pentateuch this word beer, so rendered, occurs twenty-five times.
