FOUNDATION • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • 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

... open pitch attainable on the Exposition's instrument. Speaking by itself, this note has no sound. It is only a tremendous quaking of the whole building, as though the earth were shuddering. By itself it has no place in organ music. It is not intended to be struck alone. It is used only as a foundation upon which to build other tones. In combination it adds majesty to the music, rumbling in a gigantic undertone to ...

— The Jewel City • Ben Macomber

... been Don Juan altogether, there had been some possible road for him throughout this troublesome world; but a man, alas! who is equally at the call of his worse and better instincts, stands among changing events without foundation ...

— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 3 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... two grass-grown and shallow hollows, on the highest part of the ridge. The house consisted of two wings, each perhaps sixty feet in length, united by a middle part, in which was the entrance-hall, and which looked lengthwise along the hill. The foundation of a spacious porch may be traced on either side of the central portion; some of the stones still remain; but even where they are gone, the line of the porch is still traceable by the greener verdure. In the cellar, or rather in the two cellars, grow ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 102, April, 1866 • Various

... to the Florida Seminole in their relations with one another, I shall first treat of that relationship which lies at the foundation of society, marriage or its equivalent, the result of which is a body of people more or less remotely connected with one another and designated by the term "kindred." This is shown either in the narrow limits of what may be named the family ...

— The Seminole Indians of Florida • Clay MacCauley

... conscience will not allow me in cold blood to give utterance to suspicions which may not only damage the reputation of an honest man, but place me in the unpleasant position of an accuser without substantial foundation ...

— The Leavenworth Case • Anna Katharine Green

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