Wiktionary

founder

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Old French fondeur, from Latin fundātor, equivalent to found +‎ -er.

Noun

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founder (plural founders)

  1. One who founds or establishes (a company, project, organisation, state, etc.).
    Antonym: ruiner
    The founder of Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg.
    • 1765, William Blackstone, “Of Corporations”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 469:
      As to eleemoſynary corporations, by the dotation the founder and his heirs are of common right the legal viſitors, to ſee that that property is rightly employed, which would otherwiſe have deſcended to the viſitor himſelf: […]
    • 2022 January 13, Arielle Pardes, “Who Do Young Entrepreneurs Look Up To? Elon Musk”, in Wired‎[1], San Francisco, C.A.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-01:
      Young people love to idolize their predecessors. [Steve] Jobs was Silicon Valley's idol of choice for decades, but to the next generation of startup founders, his legacy feels about as old as Web 1.0.
    • 2023 June 28, Livia Albeck-Ripka, “Chris Printup, Founder of Streetwear Brand Born X Raised, Dies at 42”, in The New York Times‎[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-07-06:
      Chris Printup, a founder of the streetwear brand Born X Raised, which became a fixture on the Los Angeles fashion scene, died on Wednesday morning at a hospital in Albuquerque. He was 42.
  2. (genetics) A common ancestor of some population (especially one with a certain genetic mutation).
    a founder population
    the founder effect
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle French fondeur, from Latin fundo (“pour, melt, cast”).

Noun

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founder (plural founders)

  1. The iron worker in charge of the blast furnace and the smelting operation.
    • 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 161:
      The term 'founder' was applied in the British iron industry long afterwards to the ironworker in charge of the blast furnace and the smelting operation.
  2. One who casts metals in various forms; a caster.
    a founder of cannon, bells, hardware, or printing types
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 3

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From Middle French fondrer (“send to the bottom”), from Latin fundus (“bottom”).

Noun

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founder (plural founders)

  1. (veterinary medicine) A severe laminitis of a horse, caused by untreated internal inflammation in the hooves.
Translations
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Verb

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founder (third-person singular simple present founders, present participle foundering, simple past and past participle foundered)

  1. (intransitive, of a ship) To flood with water and sink.
    • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
      We were not much more than a quarter of an hour out of our ship but we saw her sink, and then I understood for the first time what was meant by a ship foundering in the sea.
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 9, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
      This ended, in prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a bell in a ship that is foundering at sea in a fog—in such tones he commenced reading the following hymn;(...)
    • 2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 27:33 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918‎[6], archived from the original on 4 August 2022:
      Amongst the battleships, things are rather different. Barham led a valiant charge, but suffered for it; she will founder under tow in the Thames estuary shallows, eventually being refloated and refitted after the war.
  2. (intransitive) To fall; to stumble and go lame, as a horse.
  3. (intransitive) To fail; to miscarry.
    • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
      All his tricks founder.
    • 2024 September 4, Philip Haigh, “Can public-private partnerships be made to deliver?”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 52:
      The other ambitions, and much of Prescott's plan, foundered just south of Hatfield that October, when a GNER express derailed on a shattered rail […] , plunging the railway into a crisis that led to private track owner Railtrack being put into administration.
  4. (transitive, archaic, nautical) To cause to flood and sink, as a ship.
    • 1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 82:
      We found a strong Tide setting out of the Streights to the Northward, and like to founder our Ship.
    • 1744, William Smith, A New Voyage to Guinea, page 167, quoted in The Diligent: A Voyage Through the Worlds Of The Slave Trade, Robert Harms, 2008
      "I was amazed when we came among the breakers (which to me seemed large enough to founder our ship), to see with what wondrous dexterity they carried us through them, and ran their canoes on the top of one of those rolling waves […] "
    • 1932, Hart Crane, "From haunts of Proserpine" (Review of Green River: A Poem for Rafinesque, James Whaler
      But still more disastrous was the storm which foundered his ship in Long Island Sound, swallowing within call of shore his fifty boxes of scientific equipment, his books, manuscripts and funds, the results of years of devoted labor.
  5. (transitive) To disable or lame (a horse) by causing internal inflammation and soreness in the feet or limbs.
Translations
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Usage notes

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Frequently confused with flounder. Both may be applied to the same situation, with the difference being the severity of the action: floundering (struggling to maintain position) comes first, followed by foundering (losing it by falling, sinking, or failing).

Anagrams

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Old French

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Etymology

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From Latin fundō.

Verb

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founder

  1. (late Anglo-Norman) Alternative spelling of funder

Conjugation

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This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-d, *-ds, *-dt are modified to t, z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of founder (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)
simple compound
infinitive founder avoir foundé
gerund en foundant gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle foundant
past participle foundé
person singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative jo tu il nos vos il
simple
tenses 		present fount foundes founde foundons foundez foundent
imperfect foundoie, foundeie, foundoe, foundeve foundoies, foundeies, foundoes, foundeves foundoit, foundeit, foundot, foundeve foundiiens, foundiens foundiiez, foundiez foundoient, foundeient, foundoent, foundevent
preterite foundai foundas founda foundames foundastes founderent
future founderai founderas foundera founderons founderoiz, foundereiz, founderez founderont
conditional founderoie, foundereie founderoies, foundereies founderoit, foundereit founderiiens, founderiens founderiiez, founderiez founderoient, foundereient
compound
tenses 		present perfect present tense of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
past anterior preterite tense of avoir + past participle
future perfect future tense of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que jo que tu qu’il que nos que vos qu’il
simple
tenses 		present fount founz fount foundons foundez foundent
imperfect foundasse foundasses foundast foundissons, foundissiens foundissoiz, foundissez, foundissiez foundassent
compound
tenses 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nos vos –
— founde — foundons foundez —
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