Skip to content

well

verb

  1. gather, pool up (non-phrasal version of 'well_up'); upward motion of water, or as if of water, perhaps from a spring
L307684 on Wikidata ↗

adverb

  1. properly or correctly
L3219 on Wikidata ↗

noun

  1. hole to reach water below ground
L3220 on Wikidata ↗

interjection

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L334029 on Wikidata ↗

adjective

  1. healthy
  2. positive state, resulting favorably (incl. 'wellbeing')
L36417 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈwɛl/ / /ˈwɛʊ̯/ / /ˈwel/

adj

Etymology: From Middle English wel, wal, wol, wele, from Old English wel (“well, abundantly, very, very easily, very much, fully, quite, nearly”), from Proto-Germanic *wela, *wala (“well”, literally “as wished, as desired”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“wish, desire”). Cognates Cognate with Yola vella, waal, wel, well, wull (“well”), Cimbrian boll, bóol (“well”), Dutch wel (“well”), German wohl, wol, woll (“well”), Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk vel (“well”), Faroese væl (“well”), Swedish väl, waͤl (“well”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰 (waila, “well”). Related to will.

  1. In good health.

    I've been sick, but now I'm well.

    I've always been a healthy, fit woman, but right now I really don't feel very well.

  2. Highly satisfactory

    Everything well with you?

  3. Good, content.

    “How are you?” — “I'm well, thank you!”

    Paulina. As she liu'd peerelesse, So her dead likenesse I doe well beleeue Excells what euer yet you look'd vpon, Or hand of Man hath done: therefore I keepe it Louely, apart. But here it is: prepare To see the Life as liuely mock'd, as euer Still Sleepe mock'd Death: behold, and say 'tis well.

  4. Prudent; good; well-advised.

    In this respect it would be well for you to depart from the standard format and to indicate why you did what you did.

    When executing bone scan protocols, it is well for one to be aware of how key deviations from optimal technique can degrade image quality.

  5. Good to eat; tasty, delicious.

    This wahoo tastes val.

    Drunk, like, a gallon of orange mindral. Tasted wel.

adv

Etymology: From Middle English wel, wal, wol, wele, from Old English wel (“well, abundantly, very, very easily, very much, fully, quite, nearly”), from Proto-Germanic *wela, *wala (“well”, literally “as wished, as desired”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“wish, desire”). Cognates Cognate with Yola vella, waal, wel, well, wull (“well”), Cimbrian boll, bóol (“well”), Dutch wel (“well”), German wohl, wol, woll (“well”), Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk vel (“well”), Faroese væl (“well”), Swedish väl, waͤl (“well”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰 (waila, “well”). Related to will.

  1. Accurately, competently, satisfactorily.

    He does his job well.

    My RV runs well on diesel.

  2. Completely, fully.

    I prefer a well done steak.

    Cook the potatoes well to ensure they aren't tough.

  3. To a significant degree.

    That author is well known.

    A monument well worth seeing

  4. Very (as a general-purpose intensifier).

    That guy rocks! I think he's called Matthew Lillard or sommat but he is well cool in Scream.

    Hey Dude / FIFA 2003 is well wicked, I've got FIFA 2002 on PS2, David Beckham on Xbox and Football Manager on Xbox too, out of all pf^([sic]) them FIFA 2003 is easliy^([sic]) the best.

  5. In a desirable manner; so as one could wish; satisfactorily; favourably; advantageously.

    I'm glad Joe got fired last week. I think we're well rid of him.

    Whatever now the omen prove, It boded well to you.

intj

Etymology: From Middle English wel, wal, wol, wele, from Old English wel (“well, abundantly, very, very easily, very much, fully, quite, nearly”), from Proto-Germanic *wela, *wala (“well”, literally “as wished, as desired”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“wish, desire”). Cognates Cognate with Yola vella, waal, wel, well, wull (“well”), Cimbrian boll, bóol (“well”), Dutch wel (“well”), German wohl, wol, woll (“well”), Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk vel (“well”), Faroese væl (“well”), Swedish väl, waͤl (“well”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰 (waila, “well”). Related to will.

  1. Used as a discourse marker.

    “So, what have you been doing?” “Well, we went for a picnic; and then it started raining, so we came home early.”

    A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF KINK HISTORY Do we know how kinky practices began? Do we know who the first kinky people were? Well, no.

  2. Used as a discourse marker.

    “The car is broken.” “Well, we could walk to the movies instead.”

    “I didn't like the music.” “Well, I thought it was good.”

  3. Used as a discourse marker.

    “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.

    It was a bit... well, too loud.

  4. An exclamation of sarcastic surprise (often doubled or tripled and in a lowering intonation).

    Well, well, well, what do we have here?

  5. An exclamation of indignance.

    Well! There was no need to say that in front of my mother!

  6. Used as a greeting, short for "Are you well?"

    Well, lads? How's things?

  7. Used as a question to demand an answer from someone.

    And what do you think you're doing? ... Well?

name

Etymology: Most, if not all, of the placenames are derived from the noun well.

  1. A small village in Long Sutton parish, Hart district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU7646).
  2. A small village and civil parish in East Lindsey district, Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref TF4473).
  3. A village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, previously in Hambleton district (OS grid ref SE2681).
  4. A village in Maasdriel municipality, Gelderland province, Netherlands.
  5. A village in Bergen municipality, Limburg province, Netherlands.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English welle, from Old English wielle (“well”), from Proto-West Germanic *wallijā, from Proto-Germanic *wallijǭ (“well, swirl, wave”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn; wind; roll”). Cognate with West Frisian wel (“well”), Dutch wel (“well”), German Low German Well (“well”), German Welle (“wave”), Danish væld (“well; spring”), Swedish väl (“well”), Icelandic vella (“boiling; bubbling; eruption”).

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

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

    By the end of the tenth century, Edith's humility had inspired a cult of holy wells in Kent, Staffordshire, and Herefordshire.

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

    Begin, then, sisters of the sacred well.

  3. A small depression, e.g. suitable for holding liquid or other objects.

    Make a well in the dough mixture and pour in the milk.

    Four fixed windows are fitted on the corridor side of the body and nine louvred air intakes on the opposite side. Rubber water drainage pipes are taken from these, and from the pantograph roof well, down the inside of the body.

  4. A source of supply.

    Dan Chaucer, well of English undefyled

    A well of serious thought and pure, / Too deep for earthly light.

  5. A vertical, cylindrical trunk in a ship, reaching down to the lowest part of the hull, through which the bilge pumps operate.
  6. The cockpit of a sailboat.
  7. 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. A vertical passage in the stern into which an auxiliary screw propeller may be drawn up out of the water.
  9. A hole or excavation in the earth, in mining, from which run branches or galleries.
  10. An opening through the floors of a building, as for a staircase or an elevator; a wellhole.
  11. The open space between the bench and the counsel tables in a courtroom.
  12. The lower part of a furnace, into which the metal falls.
  13. A well drink.

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

  14. The playfield of Tetris and similar video games, into which the blocks fall.

    Tetris, the most widely played computer game of all time, is a problem-solving puzzle game. […] The player attempts to lock the falling shape smoothly together with the shapes in the well.

  15. In a microtiter plate, each of the small equal circular or square sections which serve as test tubes.
  16. The region of an interface that contains tabs.

    You can reposition the order of documents in the window by clicking and dragging the tabs, or you can drag a tab out of the well and view a document in its own floating window.

    You should now have three documents open with their tabs showing in the tab well (this refers to the row of tabs for each open document in the editor), as shown in the following screenshot: […]

verb

Etymology: From Middle English wellen, from a merger of Old English weallan (intransitive) and wiellan (transitive), both meaning “to boil.” Further from Proto-Germanic *wallaną and *wallijaną. Doublet of wall. Cognate with German wallen (“boil, seethe”), Danish vælde (“gush”), Norwegian Nynorsk vella and outside Germanic, with Albanian valë (“hot, boiling”).

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

    [Blood] welled from out the wound.

    [Yon spring] wells softly forth.

  2. To have something seep out of the surface.

    Her eyes welled with tears.