FOUNTAIN

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does fountain mean? 

• FOUNTAIN (noun)
  The noun FOUNTAIN has 4 senses:

1. a structure from which an artificially produced jet of water arises

2. a natural flow of ground water

3. an artificially produced flow of water

4. a plumbing fixture that provides a flow of water

  Familiarity information: FOUNTAIN used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FOUNTAIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A structure from which an artificially produced jet of water arises

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fountain" is a kind of...):

construction; structure (a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fountain"):

bubbler; drinking fountain; water fountain (a public fountain to provide a jet of drinking water)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A natural flow of ground water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

fountain; natural spring; outflow; outpouring; spring

Hypernyms ("fountain" is a kind of...):

formation; geological formation ((geology) the geological features of the earth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fountain"):

Fountain of Youth (a fountain described in folk tales as able to make people young again)

geyser (a spring that discharges hot water and steam)

hot spring; thermal spring (a natural spring of water at a temperature of 70 F or above)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An artificially produced flow of water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fountain; jet

Hypernyms ("fountain" is a kind of...):

flow; flowing (the motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases))

Sense 4

Meaning:

A plumbing fixture that provides a flow of water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fount; fountain

Hypernyms ("fountain" is a kind of...):

plumbing fixture (a fixture for the distribution and use of water in a building)

 Context examples 

A mere one billion light-years away in the nearby galaxy cluster known as Abell 2597, there lies a gargantuan galactic fountain.

(ALMA and MUSE Detect Galactic Fountain, ESO)

He sprang at the foremost man (it was the chief of the Yeehats), ripping the throat wide open till the rent jugular spouted a fountain of blood.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The fountains, gardens, walks, avenues, and groves, were all disposed with exact judgment and taste.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But Leach took it quite calmly, though blood was spouting upon the deck as generously as water from a fountain.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?” he asked.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I came here, you pure fountain of love, she said, to see—as I began by telling you—what such a thing as you was like.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Night was far advanced when I came to the halfway resting-place and seated myself beside the fountain.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

At 3 a.m. on March 3, 2015, Villarrica, one of Chile's most active, blew its top in a spectacular fire fountain.

(Listen to the pulse of an erupting volcano, NSF)

It smell so like the waters of Lethe, and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought for in the Floridas, and find him all too late.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

There was a tiny fountain in the middle of the room, that shot a spray of green perfume into the air, to fall back into a beautifully carved green marble basin.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)