noun
robber's fountain; place with an ominous name
Literary and idiomatic; refers to a spring whose name is morally repugnant, used in the proverb 渇しても盗泉の水を飲まず (a gentleman would rather die of thirst than drink from a spring called 'Robber's Spring'). Rarely used outside this fixed expression.
See also: 渇しても盗泉の水を飲まず (かっしてもとうせんのみずをのまず)
「渇しても盗泉の水を飲まず」ということわざがある。
There is a proverb: 'Even if thirsty, one does not drink from the Robber's Spring.'