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.]
Therefore right as an hawk upon a sours
Up springeth into the air,
right so prayers . . .
Maken their sours to Goddes ears two.
Chaucer. 2. The rising from the ground, or beginning, of a stream of water or the like; a spring; a fountain.
Where as the
Poo out of a
welle small
Taketh his
firste springing and his sours.
Chaucer. Kings that rule
Behind the hidden sources of the Nile.
Addison.
3. That from which anything comes forth, regarded as its cause or
origin; the person from whom anything originates; first cause.
This source of ideas every man has
wholly in himself.
Locke.
The source of Newton's light, of Bacon's sense.
Pope. Syn. -- See Origin.
Hear it pronounced