founder

== English == === Pronunciation === (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfaʊn.dɚ/ (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfaʊn.də/ Rhymes: -aʊndə(ɹ) Hyphenation: found‧er === Etymology 1 === From Old French fondeur, from Latin fundātor, equivalent to found +‎ -er. ==== Noun ==== founder (plural founders) One who founds or establishes (a company, project, organisation, state, etc.). Antonym: ruiner (genetics) A common ancestor of some population (especially one with a certain genetic mutation). ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === From Middle French fondeur, from Latin fundo (“pour, melt, cast”). ==== Noun ==== founder (plural founders) The iron worker in charge of the blast furnace and the smelting operation. One who casts metals in various forms; a caster. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 3 === From Middle French fondrer (“send to the bottom”), from Latin fundus (“bottom”). ==== Noun ==== founder (plural founders) (veterinary medicine) A severe laminitis of a horse, caused by untreated internal inflammation in the hooves. ===== Related terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== founder (third-person singular simple present founders, present participle foundering, simple past and past participle foundered) (intransitive, of a ship) To flood with water and sink. (intransitive, especially of horses) To fall; to stumble and go lame. (intransitive) To fail; to miscarry. (transitive, archaic, nautical) To cause to flood and sink, as a 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. (transitive) To disable or lame (a horse) by causing internal inflammation and soreness in the feet or limbs. ===== Translations ===== ==== Usage notes ==== 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 === Neudorf, fonduer, refound == Old French == === Etymology === From Latin fundō. === Verb === founder (late Anglo-Norman) alternative spelling of funder ==== Conjugation ==== 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.