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well point

well point

7.7
A tube with small holes pushed into the ground to collect water from soil
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : punto de captación
  • After setting up the well point, they monitored the water levels closely to ensure proper drainage.

Examples

  • They decided to use a well point to access clean water from the sandy soil while building the new house.

  • The construction team installed a well point to effectively remove water from the excavation site.

  • The well point is driven into the ground by pounding or is washed in using high water pressure.

    Academic text (2008)

Synonyms

wellpoint
vswell point
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A pipe with small holes driven into the ground to collect underground water for pumping or draining

has identical meaning but is written as two separate words
drainage well
vswell point
  • Specialized
1 5.5

A hole that lets extra rain or water on the ground flow into the earth

is for collecting surrounding soil water for pumping, not for disposal
driven well
vswell point
  • Specialized
8.4

A hole made by driving a pipe into the ground to reach water

collects water from surrounding soil for dewatering rather than tapping strata
tube well
vswell point
  • Indian
4.8

A deep hole with a long metal pipe that brings water up from underground

focuses on shallow soil collection for dewatering rather than deep extraction

Surface Forms

well point singular
well points plural

Morphology

well + point

The constituents 'well' (a water shaft) and 'point' (a small tip/part) cue that the phrase refers to a small device associated with a well, so learners can infer a general relation to water-well equipment. However, the precise technical sense — a perforated tube installed for dewatering — is specialized and not reliably derivable from the parts alone, so a B1 learner would likely not grasp the full meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

Well point comes from the image of making a tiny well with a sharp point. A narrow tube with small holes is pushed into the ground to make a little 'point' that draws water from the soil, so the name now means the tube used to take water away from a site.