Noun

(en noun)

A fundamental principle or skill, especially in a field of learning (often in the plural).

We learn the rudiments of thermodynamics next week.

* Shakespeare

This boy is forest-born, / And hath been tutored in the rudiments / Of many desperate studies.

Something in an undeveloped form (often in the plural).

I have the rudiments of an escape plan.

* Milton

But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit / Those rudiments , and see before thine eyes / The monarchies of the earth.

* I. Taylor

The single leaf is the rudiment of beauty in landscape.

(biology) A body part that no longer has a function

(music) In percussion, one of a selection of basic drum patterns learned as an exercise.

Noun

(en noun)

The person, place or thing from which something (information, goods, etc.) comes or is acquired.

* {{quote-book, year=2006, author=(Edwin Black)

, title=Internal Combustion, chapter=2 citation , passage=More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-06, volume=408, issue=8843, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= The rise of smart beta , passage=Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.}}

Spring; fountainhead; wellhead; any collection of water on or under the surface of the ground in which a stream originates.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author= John Vidal

, volume=189, issue=10, page=8, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas , passage=Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources . Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.}}

A reporter's informant.

(computing) Source code.

(electronics) The name of one terminal of a field effect transistor (FET).