- Source
- Source Source, n. [OE. sours, OF. sourse, surse, sorse, F.
source, fr. OF. sors, p. p. of OF. sordre, surdre, sourdre,
to spring forth or up, F. sourdre, fr. L. surgere to lift or
raise up, to spring up. See {Surge}, and cf. {Souse} to
plunge or swoop as a bird upon its prey.]
1. The act of rising; a rise; an ascent. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Therefore right as an hawk upon a sours Up springeth into the air, right so prayers . . . Maken their sours to Goddes ears two. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
2. The rising from the ground, or beginning, of a stream of water or the like; a spring; a fountain. [1913 Webster]
Where as the Poo out of a welle small Taketh his firste springing and his sours. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
Kings that rule Behind the hidden sources of the Nile. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
3. That from which anything comes forth, regarded as its cause or origin; the person from whom anything originates; first cause. [1913 Webster]
This source of ideas every man has wholly in himself. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
The source of Newton's light, of Bacon's sense. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
Syn: See {Origin}. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.