Fountain

Fountain - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

(Heb. ain; i.e., "eye" of the water desert), a natural source of living water. Palestine was a "land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills" (Deut. 8:7; 11:11).

These fountains, bright sparkling "eyes" of the desert, are remarkable for their abundance and their beauty, especially on the west of Jordan. All the perennial rivers and streams of the country are supplied from fountains, and depend comparatively little on surface water. "Palestine is a country of mountains and hills, and it abounds in fountains of water. The murmur of these waters is heard in every dell, and the luxuriant foliage which surrounds them is seen in every plain." Besides its rain-water, its cisterns and fountains, Jerusalem had also an abundant supply of water in the magnificent reservoir called "Solomon's Pools" (q.v.), at the head of the Urtas valley, whence it was conveyed to the city by subterrean channels some 10 miles in length. These have all been long ago destroyed, so that no water from the "Pools" now reaches Jerusalem. Only one fountain has been discovered at Jerusalem, the so-called "Virgins's Fountains," in the valley of Kidron; and only one well (Heb. beer), the Bir Eyub, also in the valley of Kidron, south of the King's Gardens, which has been dug through the solid rock. The inhabitants of Jerusalem are now mainly dependent on the winter rains, which they store in cisterns. (See [221]WELL.)

Spring - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

(Heb. ain, "the bright open source, the eye of the landscape"). To be carefully distinguished from "well" (q.v.). "Springs" mentioned in Josh. 10:40 (Heb. ashdoth) should rather be "declivities" or "slopes" (R.V.), i.e., the undulating ground lying between the lowlands (the shephelah) and the central range of hills.

Spring - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

SPRING, v.i. pret. sprung, [sprang, not wholly obsolete;] pp. sprung.

1. To vegetate and rise out of the ground; to begin to appear; as vegetables.

To satisfy the desolate ground, and cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth. Job 38.

2. To begin to grow.

The teeth of the young not sprung--

3. To proceed, as from the seed or cause.

Much more good of sin shall spring.

4. To arise; to appear; to begin to appear or exist.

When the day began to spring, they let her go. Judg 21

Do not blast my springing hopes.

5. To break forth; to issue into sight or notice.

O spring to light; auspicious babe, be born.

6. To issue or proceed, as from ancestors or from a country. Aaron and Moses sprung from Levi.

7. To proceed, as from a cause, reason, principle, or other original. The noblest title springs from virtue.

They found new hope to spring out of despair.

8. To grow; to thrive.

What makes all this but Jupiter the king, at whose command we perish and we spring.

9. To proceed or issue, as from a fountain or source. Water springs from reservoirs in the earth. Rivers spring from lakes or ponds.

10. To leap; to bound; to jump.

The mountain stag that springs from highth to highth, and bounds along the plains--

11. To fly back; to start; as, a bow when bent, springs back by its elastic power.

12. To start or rise suddenly from a covert.

Watchful as fowlers when their game will spring.

13. To shoot; to issue with speed and violence.

And sudden light sprung through the vaulted roof--

14. To bend or wind from a straight direction or plane surface. Our mechanics say, a piece of timber or a plank springs in seasoning.

To spring at, to leap towards; to attempt to reach by a leap.

To spring in, to rush in; to enter with a leap or in haste.

To spring forth, to leap out; to rush out.

To spring on or upon, to leap on; to rush on with haste or violence; to assault.

SPRING, v.t.

1. To start or rouse, as game; to cause to rise from the earth or from a covert; as, to spring a pheasant.

2. To produce quickly or unexpectedly.

The nurse, surprisd with fright, starts up and leaves her bed, and springs a light.

[I have never heard such an expression.]

3. To start; to contrive or to produce or propose on a sudden; to produce unexpectedly.

The friends to the cause sprang a new project.

[In lieu of spring, the people int he United States generally use start; to start a new project.]

4. To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine.

5. To burst; to cause to open; as, to spring a leak. When it is said, a vessel has sprung a leak, the meaning is, the leak has then commenced.

6. To crack; as, to spring a mast or a yard.

7. To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap; as, to spring a trap.

To spring a butt, in seamens language, to loosen the end of a plank in a ships bottom.

To spring the luff, when a vessel yields to the helm, and sails nearer to the wind than before.

To spring a fence, for to leap a fence, is not a phrase used in this country.

To spring an arch, to set off, begin or commence an arch from an abutment or pier.

SPRING, n.

1. A leap; a bound; a jump; as of an animal.

The prisner with a spring from prison broke.

2. A flying back; the resilience of a body recovering its former state by its elasticity; as the spring of a bow.

3. Elastic power or force. The soul or the mind requires relaxation, that it may recover its natural spring.

Heavns, what a spring was in his arm.

4. An elastic body; a body which, when bent or forced from its natural state, has the power of recovering it; as the spring of a watch or clock.

5. Any active power; that by which action or motion is produced or propagated.

--Like nature letting down the springs of life.

Our author shuns by vulgar springs to move the heros glory--

6. A fountain of water; an issue of water from the earth, or the basin of water at the place of its issue. Springs are temporary or perennial. From springs proceed rivulets, and rivulets united form rivers. Lakes and ponds are usually fed by springs.

7. The place where water usually issues from the earth, though no water is there. Thus we say, a spring is dry.

8. A source; that from which supplies are drawn. The real Christian has in his own breast a perpetual and inexhaustible spring of joy.

The sacred spring whence right and honor stream.

9. Rise; original; as the spring of the day. 1 Sam 9.

10. Cause; original. The springs of great events are often concealed from common observation.

11. The season of the year when plants begin to vegetate and rise; the vernal season. This season comprehends the months of March, April and May, in the middle latitudes north of the equator.

12. In seamens language, a crack in a mast or yard, running obliquely or transversely. [In the sense of leak, I believe it is not used.]

13. A rope passed out of a ships stern and attached to a cable proceeding from her bow, when she is at anchor. It is intended to bring her broadside to bear upon some object. A spring is also a rope extending diagonally from the stern of one ship to the head of another, to make on ship sheer off to a greater distance.

14. A plant; a shoot; a young tree. [Not in use.]

15. A youth. [Not in use.]

16. A hand; a shoulder of pork. [Not in use.]

foun'-tin, foun'-tan:

In a country where no rain falls for half of the year, springs sume an importance unknown in more favored lands. In both eastern and western Palestine and even in Lebanon there are many villages which depend entirely upon reservoirs or cisterns of rain water. Others are situated along the courses of the few perennial streams. But wherever a spring exists it is very apt to be the nucleus of a village. It may furnish sufficient water to be used in irrigation, in which case the gardens surrounding the village become an oasis in the midst of the parched land. Or there may be a tiny stream which barely suffices for drinking water, about which the village women and girls sit and talk waiting their turns to fill their jars, sometimes until far in the night. The water of the village fountain is often conveyed by a covered conduit for some distance from the source to a convenient spot in the village where an arch is built up, under which the water gushes out. See CISTERN; SPRING; WELL; EN-, and place-names compounded with EN-.

Figurative:

(1) of God (Ps 36:9; Jer 2:13; 17:13);

(2) of Divine pardon and purification, with an obvious Messianic reference (Zec 13:1);

(3) of wisdom and godliness (Pr 13:14; 14:27);

(4) of wives (Pr 5:18);

(5) of children (De 33:28; compare Ps 68:26; Pr 5:16);

(6) of prosperity (Ps 107:35; 114:8; Ho 13:15);

(7) of the heart (Ec 12:6; see CISTERN);

(8) of life everlasting (Re 7:17; 21:6).

Alfred Ely Day

See FOUNTAIN; WELL.

Definition

The terms “fountain” and “spring” usually refer to a large amount of water that flows out naturally from the ground.

• These words are also used figuratively in the Bible to refer to blessings flowing from God or to refer to something that cleanses and purifies.
• In modern times, a fountain is often a manmade object that has water flowing out of it, such as a drinking fountain. Make sure that the translation of this term refers to a natural source of flowing water.
• Compare the translation of this term with how the term “flood” is translated.

(See also: flood)

Bible References

• 2 Peter 2:17
• Genesis 7:11
• Genesis 8:2
• Genesis 24:13
• Genesis 24:42
• James 3:11

Word Data

• Strong’s: H0953, H1530, H1543, H3222, H4002, H4161, H4456, H4599, H4726, H5033, H5869, H5927, H6524, H6779, H8444, H8666, G02420, G40770