spa

(spä)

noun

1. A resort providing therapeutic baths.
2. A resort area having mineral springs.
3. A fashionable hotel or resort.
4. A health spa.
5. A tub for relaxation or invigoration, usually including a device for raising whirlpools in the water.
6. Eastern New England See soda fountain.

Regional Note: The word spa, taken from the name of the famous mineral springs in Spa, Belgium, has become a common noun denoting any place with a medicinal or mineral spring. Less well known is its Eastern New England sense, “soda fountain,” probably an allusion to the carbonated or “mineral” water that is a staple ingredient of many soda fountain concoctions.