Source

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

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.].

•  The act of rising; a rise; an ascent.  [1913 Webster]

  "Therefore right as an hawk upon a sours
  Up springeth into the air, right so prayers . . .
  Maken their sours to Goddes ears two."  [1913 Webster]
•  The rising from the ground, or beginning, of a stream of water or the like; a spring; a fountain.  [1913 Webster]

  "Where as the Poo out of a welle small
  Taketh his firste springing and his sours."  [1913 Webster]

  "Kings that rule
  Behind the hidden sources of the Nile."  [1913 Webster]
•  That from which anything comes forth, regarded as its cause or origin; the person from whom anything originates; first cause.  [1913 Webster]

  "This source of ideas every man has wholly in himself."  [1913 Webster]

  "The source of Newton's light, of Bacon's sense."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- See Origin.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Source, n. & v.
--n.
1 a spring or fountain-head from which a stream issues (the sources of the Nile).
2 a place, person, or thing from which something originates (the source of all our troubles).
3 a person or document etc. providing evidence (reliable sources of information; historical source material).
4 a a body emitting radiation etc. b Physics a place from which a fluid or current flows. c Electronics a part of a transistor from which carriers flow into the interelectrode channel.
--v.tr. obtain (esp. components) from a specified source.

Idiom

at source at the point of origin or issue. source-criticism the evaluation of different, esp. successive, literary or historical sources.

Etymology

ME f. OF sors, sourse, past part. of sourdre rise f. L surgere

THESAURUS

Source

adviser, ambition, announcer, annunciator, antecedent, aspiration, author, authority, authorship, basis, begetter, beginning, birthplace, bonanza, calling, cause, channel, commencement, communicant, communicator, conception, consideration, cornucopia, creator, dawn, dawning, derivation, determinant, documentation, enlightener, expert witness, font, fount, fountain, fountainhead, genesis, goal, gold mine, gossipmonger, grapevine, grass roots, ground, guiding light, guiding star, head, headstream, headwater, headwaters, ideal, inception, informant, information center, information medium, informer, inspiration, intention, interviewee, lode, lodestar, mainspring, matter, mine, monitor, mother, motive, mouthpiece, newsmonger, notifier, onset, opening, origin, original, origination, originator, outset, parent, paternity, press, principle, provenance, provenience, public relations officer, publisher, quarry, radical, radio, radix, reason, reporter, resource, rise, rising, riverhead, root, roots, rootstock, sake, score, source of supply, spokesman, spring, staple, start, starting, stem, stock, taproot, television, teller, tipster, tout, ulterior motive, vein, vocation, well, wellhead, wellspring, whence, witness

ROGET THESAURUS

Source

Beginning

N beginning, commencement, opening, outset, incipience, inception, inchoation, introduction, alpha, initial, inauguration, debut, le premier pas, embarcation, rising of the curtain, maiden speech, outbreak, onset, brunt, initiative, move, first move, narrow end of the wedge, thin end of the wedge, fresh start, new departure, origin, source, rise, bud, germ, egg, rudiment, genesis, primogenesis, birth, nativity, cradle, infancy, start, inception, creation, starting point, dawn, evolution, title-page, head, heading, van, caption, fatihah, entrance, entry, inlet, orifice, mouth, chops, lips, porch, portal, portico, propylon, door, gate, gateway, postern, wicket, threshold, vestibule, propylaeum, skirts, border, first stage, first blush, first glance, first impression, first sight, rudiments, elements, outlines, grammar, alphabet, ABC, beginning, initial, initiatory, initiative, inceptive, introductory, incipient, proemial, inaugural, inchoate, inchoative, embryonic, rudimental, primogenial, primeval, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, natal, nascent, first, foremost, leading, maiden, begun, just begun, at the beginning, in the beginning first, in the first place, imprimis, first and foremost, in limine, in the bud, in embryo, in its infancy, from the beginning, from its birth, ab initio, ab ovo, ab incunabilis, ab origine, let's get going!, let's get this show on the road!, up and at 'em!, aller Anfang ist schwer, dimidium facti qui coepit habet, omnium rerum principia parva sunt.

Cause

N cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production, caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin, because, behind the scenes, causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.