Jastrow: מַעְיָן

מַעְיָן, מַעְיָין m. (b. h.; עוּן; cmp. עַיִן) 1) spring, fountain; source, issue. Mikv. V, 1. Ib. 3, v. נָדָל. Ned. 41ᵇ מ׳ הנובע a bubbling well, v. בּוּרְדָּם. Tanḥ. Thazr. 6 כל שער … מ׳ בפני עצמו for each hair … a separate well (which feeds it). Ex. R. s. 24 ברא הקב"ה מ׳ וכ׳ (not מעון), v. גַּרְגֶּרֶת. Gen. R. s. 26; Midr. Till. to Ps. I, 2 כבש … מַעְיָינוֹ the Lord held back his germinating issue. Lev. R. s. 32; Cant. R. to IV, 12 מ׳ חתום אלו הזכרים ‘a sealed well’ (Cant. l. c.), that means the (pure) males. Yeb. 64ᵇ מ׳ גורם the well (in her womb) is the cause of the death of her successive husbands. Nidd. 11ᵇ; ib. 35ᵇ מ׳ אחד הוא it is one and the same source (from which the menses and the blood at parturition issue); a. fr.—Pl. מַעְיָנוֹת, מַעְיָי׳. Ib. B. Mets. 87ᵃ, a. e. כשני מ׳ like two springs. Pesik. R. s. 42 יבש כל המ׳ שלו וכ׳ he laid dry all the wells (secretory organs) both his own and those of his household &c. Tosef. Sot. XV, 3, a. e. מ׳ חכמה the well-springs of wisdom. Nidd. 28ᵇ מַעְיְנוֹתָיו, מַעְיְנוֹתֶיהָ his, her (the leper’s) discharges; a. fr. —2) (cmp. מֵעֶה) inside, digestive organs. Snh. 81ᵇ עד שיוקטן מעיינו until his bowels are shrunk.