Definition of "fount"

At the town-pump there were gathered when he passed a few old inhabitants, who came there for water whenever they had, as at present, spare time to fetch it, because it was purer from that original fount than from their own wells.

1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge

For the small characters it was in fact imperative to use such a fount as was available; not to mention that no strictly accurate fount of Chinese type has as yet been cast.

1892, Herbert Giles, A Chinese–English Dictionary, Preface

Mr. Tallboy corrected the misprints, damned their eyes for using the wrong name-block, made it clear to them that they had set the headlines in the wrong fount, cut the proof to pieces, pasted it up again in the correct size, and returned it.

1933, Dorothy Sayers, chapter 4, in Murder Must Advertise

The company is to be congratulated on the neatness and businesslike look of the tickets, and also on the very clear and artistic founts of type which are used.

1940 May, G. W. J. Potter, “Tickets of the Great Southern Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 292