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Glite Dictionary
to go to the well

to go to the well

1 7.1
To visit a trusted person or place to get help and supplies often
  • idiom
translation icon : recurrir a
  • Let's go to the well now and get...

Examples

  • Donny, when you're thirsty, you don't go to the wall—you go to the well.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Let's go to the well now.

    FrackNation (2013)

  • Do you realise those people are still going to the well for water?

    Lost Horizon (1937)

  • Go to the well once MO Go to the well once MO.

  • Shugen once said, "We go to the well not because that is where the water is, but because that is where we know we are drinking."

    Academic text (2001)

  • I realize that I've gotten into one of those runs where it seems that all I blog about is anti-vaccinationist loons, but before trying once again to take a break from the madness, I had to go to the well one more time because this looks a bit frightening:

    Blog text (31)

  • Every Saturday, my family goes to the well to fill our water containers.

  • During the drought, the villagers had to regularly go to the well to collect enough water.

  • She often goes to the well for support when times get tough.

Synonyms

to turn to
vsto go to the well
378 2.8

Go to someone or something for help

happens repeatedly as a routine to obtain resources or support
to look to
vsto go to the well
133 3.1

To rely on someone for help or advice

focuses on repeated use of a source to obtain resources or support

How Often

to depend on
309 1.0
to go to the well
1 7.1
to seek help
30 2.0

Surface Forms

go to the well infinitive
going to the well present participle
goes to the well third person singular
went to the well past
gone to the well past participle

Morphology

go + to + the + well

The phrase's meaning (visiting a source for resources or support) is clearly related to the literal parts: 'go' (move) + 'to the well' (a source), so a learner can plausibly infer a basic sense. However, the figurative extension (well = an abstract/source of help or resources) and the nuanced sense of repeated or routine consultation require metaphorical transfer and prior exposure, so it is not fully predictable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Go to the well comes from the simple picture of people walking to a village well to get water when they needed it. Because people might go back to the well again and again, the phrase now means 'to visit a source, often repeatedly, to get help or resources'.