artesian

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   of groundwater that is confined under pressure and can rise in a well above the level at which it is first reached

   The farm draws water from an artesian aquifer beneath two layers of impermeable rock.

2. 2
   adj

   relating to a well drilled into a pressurized aquifer, especially one from which water rises without pumping

   An artesian well supplied the remote settlement with fresh water.

From French puits artesien, 'well of Artois,' after the former province of Artois in northern France, where such wells became well known in the Middle Ages. The adjective now describes water held under natural pressure and the wells that tap it.

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