See Also: fountain(dictionary)
fountain pen(dictionary)
fountain(encyclopedia)
FOUNTAIN SET(finance)
fountain(2)(dictionary)
fountain(1)(dictionary)
fountain decussation(medicine)
soda fountain(dictionary)
water fountain(dictionary)
Fountain Blue(tourism)

virulence (iou) and fountain (sh)


virulence (iou)



virulence noun. LME.
[from VIRULENT: see -ENCE.]
Discharge from a wound; pus. Only in LME.
Extreme acrimony or bitterness of temper or expression; violent hostility or rancour. E17.
Dickens The ill will of Miss Knag had lost nothing of its virulence. R. Fuller What..drunken virulence from Sammy had sent me from the house.
The property or quality of being physically virulent; extreme poisonousness or venomousness; exceptional severity (of disease). M18.
b. Microbiology. The relative capacity of (a strain of) a micro-organism to cause disease; degree of pathogenicity. M20.
virulency noun virulence E17.

fountain (sh)




Artificially produced jet of water, and the structure from which it rises.

Fountains have been an important feature of landscape design since ancient times. Displaced for a time by the medieval well, the fountain reemerged in the late Middle Ages. It reached its peak in the Renaissance and Baroque eras, with designs in which sculpture became prominent (e.g., Rome's Trevi Fountain). Supplying water through conduits to multiple fountains, as at the Palace of Versailles, was an important feat. In Muslim countries, fountains for drinking and for ablutions are of great importance. A common type is the simple spout and basin enclosed in a graceful niche; more ambitious designs take the form of a richly decorated pavilion.