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).

Noun

(en noun)

(obsolete) An idea or communication that makes one want to act, especially from spiritual sources; a divine prompting.

*, III.2.1.ii:

*:there's something in a woman beyond all human delight; a magnetic virtue, a charming quality, an occult and powerful motive .

An incentive to act in a particular way; a reason or emotion that makes one want to do something; anything that prompts a choice of action.

* 1947 , (Malcolm Lowry), Under the Volcano :

Many of them at first seemed kind to him, but it turned out their motives were not entirely altruistic.

(obsolete, rare) A limb or other bodily organ that can move.

(Shakespeare)

(legal) Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour.

What would his motive be for burning down the cottage?

No-one could understand why she had hidden the shovel; her motives were obscure at best.

* {{quote-book, year=1931, author=

, chapter=10/6, title= Death Walks in Eastrepps , passage=“Why should Eldridge commit murder?

(architecture, fine arts) A motif.

(music) A motif; a theme or subject, especially one that is central to the work or often repeated.

If you listen carefully, you can hear the flutes mimicking the cello motive .