FOUNDATION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Foundation

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/faʊndˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Foundation n.

1.

The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to erect.

2.

That upon which anything is founded; that on which anything stands, and by which it is supported; the lowest and supporting layer of a superstructure; groundwork; basis. "Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone... a precious corner stone, a sure foundation." "The foundation of a free common wealth."

3.

(Arch.) The lowest and supporting part or member of a wall, including the base course (see Base course (a), under Base, n.) and footing courses; in a frame house, the whole substructure of masonry.

4.

A donation or legacy appropriated to support a charitable institution, and constituting a permanent fund; endowment. "He was entered on the foundation of Westminster."

5.

That which is founded, or established by endowment; an endowed institution or charity; as, the Ford Foundation. "Against the canon laws of our foundation."

Foundation course. See Base course, under Base, n.

Foundation muslin, an open-worked gummed fabric used for stiffening dresses, bonnets, etc.

Foundation school, in England, an endowed school.

To be on a foundation, to be entitled to a support from the proceeds of an endowment, as a scholar or a fellow of a college.

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Etymology of 'Foundation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Foundation" Quotes from Famous Books

... the matter of that, it had been built for just that purpose. Its style of architecture was distantly ecclesiastic, with a suggestion of Gothic to some of the doors and windows. The material used was solid, massive, the walls thick, the foundation heavy. It did not occupy the entire lot, the original builder seeming to have preferred garden space to mere amplitude of construction, and in addition to the inevitable "back yard," a lawn bordered it on three sides. ...

— The Pit • Frank Norris

... judgment. He tried to comfort himself again by the thought of all the hours of happy enthusiasm he had spent amongst his papers, working for a great idea with infinite patience. He recalled to mind something that he had always tried to keep in the background of his hopes, the foundation-stone of his life, which he had hidden out of sight. Deep in his heart was the hope that he might one day write a valiant book; he scarcely dared to entertain the aspiration, he felt his incapacity too deeply, but yet this longing ...

— The Hill of Dreams • Arthur Machen

... Ungava Bay, one of the most dreary parts of a desolate region. On hearing what I wanted he sat down and wrote a long narrative of his proceedings there, which he placed at my disposal, and thus furnished me with the foundation of "Ungava." ...

— The Idler Magazine, Volume III, June 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... not undoubted reason, as I said, to believe the continuance of their antipathy to me, and implacableness to her, I should be apt to think there might be some foundation for my Lord's conjecture; for there is a cursed deal of low cunning in all that family, except in the angel of it; who has so much generosity of soul, that she despises ...

— Clarissa, Or The History Of A Young Lady, Volume 8 • Samuel Richardson

... with his heart's blood. We must each work in the appointed way—some of us in the full light of day; others in obscure corners, at work that can never be seen, putting in the stones of the foundation painfully one by one, but never destined to share in the glory of building the roof ...

— The Argosy - Vol. 51, No. 3, March, 1891 • Various

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