Founts

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A source or origin of ideas, knowledge, or inspiration can also refer to a spring or reservoir from which liquids flow or be used to describe a structure that holds water for decorative or practical purposes
2. Referring to both the origins of thoughts and concepts, as well as to physical structures that provide water, this term encapsulates both the abstract and the tangible
3. A source of ideas, knowledge, or inspiration can denote both a physical reservoir of water and an abstract wellspring of concepts or thoughts

Etymology: "Founts" is simply the plural of "fount," so its history is that of the singular noun. "Fount" is a clipping of "fountain," shortened on the same pattern that gave us "mount" from "mountain." Its older sibling "font" (a natural spring, or a basin of water) is the source of the variant that shaped its spelling, and the two words have long been treated as synonyms for a source of water. The metaphorical sense, a source of knowledge or inspiration, grows naturally from that watery origin: a spring that keeps flowing becomes a figure for an endless supply of ideas. The "fount" spelling also has a second life in printing, where a fount is a complete set of type in one size and style, but that sense is a separate branch and should not be confused with the spring sense.

Synonyms: sources, springs, foundations