a hole under ground, usually of a cylindrical figure, and walled with stone and mortar: its use is to collect the water of the strata around it.

an apartment formed in the middle of a ship's hold to inclose the pumps, from the bottom to the lower decks. It is used as a barrier to preserve those machines from being damaged by the friction or compression of the materials contained in the hold, and particularly to prevent the entrance of ballast, &c. by which the tubes would presently be choked, and the pumps rendered incapable of service. By means of this inclosure, the artificers may likewise more readily descend into the hold, in order to examine the state of the pumps, and repair them as occasion requires.

WELL-Room of a Boat, the place in the bottom where the water lies between the ceiling and the platform of the stern-heats, whence it is thrown out into the sea with a scoop.

Burning-WELL. See BURNING-Spring.

WELL of a Fishing-vessel, an apartment in the middle of the hold, which is entirely detached from the rest, being lined with lead on every side, and having the bottom thereof penetrated with a competent number of small holes passing also through the ship's floor; so that the salt-water running into the well is always kept as fresh as that in the sea, and yet prevented from communicating itself to the other parts of the hold.

WELL-hole, in building, is the hole left in a floor for the stairs to come up through.