well

Etymology 1

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”). Cognate with Scots wele, weil (“well”), North Frisian wel, weil, wal (“well”), West Frisian wol (“well”), Dutch wel (“well”), Low German wol (“well”), German wol, wohl (“well”), Norwegian and Danish vel (“well”), Swedish väl (“well”), Icelandic vel, val (“well”). Related to will.

adv

1. (manner) Accurately, competently, satisfactorily.
   He does his job well.
   In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road. 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, “The Tutor's Daughter”, in Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page 266
   A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field. 2013-07-20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
   This day is not going well. Audio (US) (file) 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
2. (manner) Completely, fully.
   a well done steak
   We’re well beat now.
3. (degree) To a significant degree.
   That author is well known.
   A monument well worth seeing
   Indeed, some readers may feel that I am beating a horse now already well dead. But in fact, that dead horse is still being driven daily through the pages of introductory textbooks. 1995 Feb, Luke Timothy Johnson, “The New Testament and the examined life: Thoughts on teaching”, in The Christian Century, volume 112, number 4, page 108
   Energy markets demonstrated in the 1970s and 1980s that they were well capable of adapting to a perceived scarcity. 2000, Colin Robinson, “Energy Economists and Economic Liberalism”, in Energy Journal, volume 21, number 2, page 1
   neither of us was paying attention to any damn imaginary scoring judges -- we were both well content, if a little fatigued. 2006, Spider Robinson, Callahan's legacy
4. (degree, Britain, slang) 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. 1999, Drummond Pearson, “What Ash are doing right now...”, in alt.music.ash (Usenet)
   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 them FIFA 2003 is easliy the best. 2002, jibaili, “FIFA 2003 How is it?”, in microsoft.public.xbox (Usenet)
   Hey, you should've seen it, it was well good. 2003, Steve Eddy, Empower, Book 2
5. In a desirable manner; so as one could wish; satisfactorily; favourably; advantageously.
   October 10, 1714, Alexander Pope, letter to Joseph Addison All the world speaks well of you.

adj

1. In good health.
   I had been sick, but now I'm well.
2. (hypercorrect) Good, content.
   “How are you?” — “I'm well, thank you!”
3. (uncommon) 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. 2014, Tom Mitchell, Assoc. Prof., “Psych 308/309 GUIDE FOR WRITING PROJECT REPORT”, in Academic website, archived from the original on 2014-12-04
   When executing bone scan protocols, it is well for one to be aware of how key deviations from optimal technique can degrade image quality. 01 Sept 2004, Sleiman Y. Naddaf, MD, B. David Collier, MD, Abdelhamid H. Elgazzar, MD, Magdy M. Khalil, MSc, “Technical Errors in Planar Bone Scanning”, in Kathy S. Thomas, editor, Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology, volume 32, number 3, Society of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging, archived from the original on 2021-04-23, page 149
   On leaving the operating table it is well to put the patient in a bed previously warmed and supplied with hot cans. 1897, National Association of Railway Surgeons, Railway surgeon, page 191
4. (archaic, now chiefly Bermuda) Good to eat; tasty, delicious.
   This wahoo tastes val. 1984, Peter A. Smith, Fred M. Barritt, Bermewjan Vurds, Island Press
   Drunk, like, a gallon of orange mindral. Tasted wel. 2013-09-05, James Burton, “Burton's Banter: Our rich dialogue — as moreish as a cold burr...”, in The Bermuda Sun, archived from the original on 2022-12-12

intj

1. Used to acknowledge a statement or situation.
   “Well,” I says, “I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   “The car is broken.” “Well, we could walk to the movies instead.”
   “I didn't like the music.” “Well, I thought it was good.”
   “I forgot to pack the tent! Well, I guess we're sleeping under the stars tonight.”
2. An exclamation of sarcastic surprise (often doubled or tripled and spoken in a lowering intonation).
   Well, well, well, what do we have here?
3. An exclamation of indignance.
   Well! There was no need to say that in front of my mother!
4. Used in speech to express the overcoming of reluctance to say something.
   It was a bit... well... too loud.
5. Used in speech to fill gaps, particularly at the beginning of a response to a question; filled pause.
   “So what have you been doing?” “Well, we went for a picnic, and then it started raining so we came home early.”
   Well, I am sorry. — It’s okay, Anna. Audio (US) (file) 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
6. (Hiberno-English) Used as a greeting
   Well lads. How's things?
7. Used as a question to demand an answer from someone reluctant to answer.
   And what do you think you're doing? ...Well?

Etymology 2

From Middle English welle, from Old English wielle (“well”), 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”).

noun

1. A hole sunk into the ground as a source of water, oil, natural gas or other fluids.
2. A place where a liquid such as water surfaces naturally; a spring.
3. A small depression suitable for holding liquid or other objects.
   Make a well in the dough mixture and pour in the milk.
4. (figurative) A source of supply.
5. (nautical) A vertical, cylindrical trunk in a ship, reaching down to the lowest part of the hull, through which the bilge pumps operate.
6. (nautical) The cockpit of a sailboat.
7. (nautical) 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. (nautical) A vertical passage in the stern into which an auxiliary screw propeller may be drawn up out of the water.
9. (military) A hole or excavation in the earth, in mining, from which run branches or galleries.
10. (architecture) 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. (metalworking) The lower part of a furnace, into which the metal falls.
13. A well drink.
    They're having a special tonight: $1 wells.
14. (video games) 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. 2005, James Paul Gee, Why Video Games are Good for Your Soul
15. (biology) In a microtiter plate, each of the small equal circular or square sections which serve as test tubes.
16. (graphical user interface) 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. 2011, Ted LoCascio, Using Adobe InDesign CS5, Enhanced Edition, pages 2-12
    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: […] 2016, Jeff Martin, Visual Studio 2015 Cookbook, page 15

Etymology 3

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”).

verb

1. (intransitive) To issue forth, as water from the earth; to flow; to spring.
   [Blood] welled from out the wound.
   [Yon spring] wells softly forth. 1824, William Cullen Bryant, A Forest Hymn
2. (intransitive) To have something seep out of the surface.
   Her eyes welled with tears.