puit

plural puits · alternative puits

1. obsoleteA well; a small stream; a fountain; a spring.

   Further on is a puit or pit, bored in the last century, in search of salt; and then smaller reservoirs, with the blasting holes.

   1857, George Bradshaw, Bradshaw's illustrated hand-book to Switzerland and the Tyrol, page 37

   2 more examples

   And then a quarter of an hour later she would say, whilst explaining to a French party: “ There were 800 English and 200 French found at the bottom of the puit at the finish of that terrible day, mesdames et messieurs."

   1911, Clive Holland, The Belgians at Home, page 211

   Cross the ravine, and a further 10 mins. across the plain see trees on the R. These trees mark the site of the puit ( well ) at El Mersse.

   1998, Karl Smith, The Atlas Mountains, page 105

plural puits

1. An insectivorous shore bird, the brown-headed gull.

   But these pirates are always successful, as are the rats, who steal at dead of night upon the eggs, devouring them; for your rat is a deadly enemy to the puit, and many another bird besides.

   1895, Peter Henry Emerson, Birds, Beasts and Fishes of the Norfolk Broadland, page 308