Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of founding, especially the establishment of an institution with provisions for future maintenance.
  • noun The basis on which a thing stands, is founded, or is supported. synonym: base.
  • noun Funds for the perpetual support of an institution; an endowment.
  • noun An institution founded and supported by an endowment.
  • noun A cosmetic used as a base for facial makeup.
  • noun A woman's supporting undergarment, such as a corset or girdle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In ship-building, any part of a ship's structure which is built up or specially reinforced to support heavy weights, as engines and boilers, turrets, guns, boat-cranes, etc.
  • noun The act of founding, originating, or beginning to raise or build; the act of establishing.
  • noun The solid ground or substructure on which the walls of a building rest; also, the lowest division of the building or wall, which is generally below the surface of the ground.
  • noun Hence The basis or groundwork of anything; that on which anything stands and by which it is supported or confirmed.
  • noun A fund invested for a benevolent or charitable purpose; a donation or legacy for the support of an institution, as a school or hospital, or of some specific object, as a college professorship, a ward in a hospital, etc.; an endowment.
  • noun That which is founded or established by endowment; an endowed institution or charity.
  • noun In crochet, knitting, etc., the first stitches put upon the needles, to which all that follows is secured.
  • noun Same as foundation-muslin and -net.
  • noun In apiculture, a sheet of wax, artificially shaped to resemble the foundation of a comb, attached to the slats or bars of a hive, or placed in a honey-frame, to induce the bees to build combs where desired; a guide-comb.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to erect.
  • noun 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.
  • noun (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.
  • noun A donation or legacy appropriated to support a charitable institution, and constituting a permanent fund; endowment.
  • noun That which is founded, or established by endowment; an endowed institution or charity.
  • noun See Base course, under Base, n.
  • noun an open-worked gummed fabric used for stiffening dresses, bonnets, etc.
  • noun in England, an endowed school.
  • noun to be entitled to a support from the proceeds of an endowment, as a scholar or a fellow of a college.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to erect.
  • noun 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; underbuilding.
  • noun architecture The lowest and supporting part or member of a wall, including the base course and footing courses; in a frame house, the whole substructure of masonry.
  • noun A donation or legacy appropriated to support a charitable institution, and constituting a permanent fund; endowment.
  • noun That which is founded, or established by endowment; an endowed institution or charity.
  • noun cosmetics Cosmetic cream roughly skin-colored, designed to make the face appear uniform in color and texture.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun lowest support of a structure
  • noun an institution supported by an endowment
  • noun the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained
  • noun the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new
  • noun education or instruction in the fundamentals of a field of knowledge
  • noun a woman's undergarment worn to give shape to the contours of the body
  • noun the basis on which something is grounded

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English fundacioun, from Latin fundātiō, fundātiōn-, from fundātus, past participle of fundāre, to lay the groundwork for; see found.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin fundātiō.

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