Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Origin: well 'to cause to boil' (11-15 centuries), from Old English wellan

well

5 verb
     
well5 also well up [intransitive] literary
1 if a liquid wells or wells up, it comes to the surface of something and starts to flow out:
I felt tears well up in my eyes.
2 if a feeling wells or wells up in you, you start to feel it strongly:
Anger welled up within him.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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