Source \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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)