English - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛl/
• Rhymes: -ɛl

English - Etymology 1

From Middle English wel, wal, wol, wele, from Old English wel, wæl, well (“well, abundantly, very, very easily, very much, fully, quite, nearly”), from Proto-Germanic *wela, *walō (“well”, literally “as wished, as desired”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“wish, desire”), *wol-. Cognate with Scots wele, weil (“well”), North Frisian wel, weil, wal (“well”), West Frisian wol (“well”), Dutch wel (“well”), Low German wol (“well”), German wol, wohl (“well”), Danish vel (“well”), Swedish väl (“well”), Icelandic vel, val (“well”). Non-Germanic cognate include Albanian vallë (“well, perhaps, wishfully”). Related to will.

Alternative forms

• wall (dialectal)
• weel, weil (Scotland)
• welp (US, informal)

Adverb

well (comparative better, superlative best)

1. (manner) Accurately, competently, satisfactorily.

   He does his job well.

2. (manner) Completely, fully.

   a well done steak

   • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterII:

     Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,

English - Etymology 2

From Old English well (“well”), from Proto-Germanic *wall-.

Noun

well (plural wells)

1. A hole sunk into the ground as a source of water, oil, natural gas or other fluids.
   • Bible, John iv. 11

     The woman said unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.

2. A place where a liquid such as water surfaces naturally; a spring.
   • Milton

     Begin, then, sisters of the sacred well.

3. A small depression suitable for holding liquid, or other objects.
4. (figuratively) A source of supply.
   • Spenser

     Dan Chaucer, well of English undefiled

   • Keble

     a well of serious thought and pure

5. (nautical) A vertical, cylindrical trunk in a ship, reaching down to the lowest part of the hull, through which the bilge pumps operate.
6. (nautical) The cockpit of a sailboat.
7. (nautical) 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 to keep fish alive while they are transported to market.
8. (nautical) A vertical passage in the stern into which an auxiliary screw propeller may be drawn up out of the water.
9. (military) A hole or excavation in the earth, in mining, from which run branches or galleries.
10. (architecture) An opening through the floors of a building, as for a staircase or an elevator; a wellhole.
11. (metalworking) The lower part of a furnace, into which the metal falls.
12. A well drink.

    They're having a special tonight: $1 wells.

13. (video games) The playfield of the video game Tetris, into which the blocks fall.

Derived terms

• ink well
• light well (architecture)
• oil well
• spare tire well, spare tyre well
• window well (architecture)
• wishing well

Translations

English - Etymology 3

From Old English weallan. Cognate with German wallen (“boil, seethe”), Danish vælde (“gush”), Albanian valoj (“I boil, seethe”).

Verb

well (third-person singular simple present wells, present participle welling, simple past and past participle welled)

1. To issue forth, as water from the earth; to flow; to spring.
   • Dryden

     [Blood] welled from out the wound.

   • Bryant

     [Yon spring] wells softly forth.

2. To have something seep out of the surface.

   Her eyes welled with tears.

Translations

Statistics

Luxembourgish - Etymology

Cognate with German weil.

Luxembourgish - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /væl/
• Rhymes: -æl
• Homophone: Well

Luxembourgish - Conjunction

well

1. because

   Ech gi geschwënn um Bett, well ech midd sinn.

   I'm going to bed soon because I am tired.

Old English - Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wall-, whence also Old High German wella, Old Norse vella.

Old English - Noun

well

Welsh - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛɬ/

Welsh - Adjective

well

1. Soft mutation of gwell.

Welsh - Adverb

well

1. Soft mutation of gwell.

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