FOUNDERING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Foundering

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/fˈaʊndərɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Founder v. t. To cause internal inflammation and soreness in the feet or limbs of (a horse), so as to disable or lame him.

Founder v. i. (past & past part. foundered; pres. part. foundering)

(Naut.) To become filled with water, and sink, as a ship.

To fall; to stumble and go lame, as a horse. "For which his horse fearé gan to turn, And leep aside, and foundrede as he leep."

To fail; to miscarry. "All his tricks founder."

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Etymology of 'Foundering'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Foundering" Quotes from Famous Books

... After incredible hardships and suffering, G. W. Melville, the chief engineer, who was in charge of one of the boats, with nine men, reached, on September 26, a Russian village on the Lena. All the others perished, some being lost at sea, by the foundering of the boats, while others, including De Long, had starved to death after reaching the desolate ...

— The North Pole - Its Discovery in 1909 under the auspices of the Peary Arctic Club • Robert E. Peary

... founder!" exclaimed the mate. "I had my eye on it when it sank. I've seen some foundering in my day; but this beats all ...

— Stories by English Authors: The Sea • Various

... I truly believe, in all that turmoil of the elements, while we were on the brink of foundering and going down to old Davy's locker, that there was not an officer or man, from the captain to the cook, who was not thinking of that pirate, and hoping that he might go down first. I myself, however, felt a sort of confidence, as I was held ...

— Captain Brand of the "Centipede" • H. A. (Henry Augustus) Wise

... I am sure that these fears are well founded, and am glad that they exist. It is the star of hope in our dark horizon. Fear is what we need, as the ship needs wind on a rocking sea, after a storm, to prevent foundering. But when our fear and our efforts shall correspond with our ...

— McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader • William Holmes McGuffey

... ships sailing down the Thames or from Bristol Channel had a hard time of it before losing sight of the hills of Devon. The people along the Cornwall shores beheld the seashore strewn with carcasses of cattle, sheep, and pigs, tossed overboard from the decks of foundering vessels. The few cattle that survived the six weeks' tossing on the sea were but skin and bones when the ships ...

— Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times - 1769 - 1776 A Historical Romance • Charles Carleton Coffin

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