( fa nd (r))  [a. OF. fondrer to plunge to the bottom, submerge; also intr. to collapse, fall in ruins: f. L. fundus bottom. 
  The simple vb. fondrer appears to be rare in OF.; the compounds esfondrer, enfondrer, are common, and occur in most of the senses below; cf. AFOUNDER, ENFOUNDER, of whichfounder in some uses may be an aphetic form. The r in the OF. vb. is variously accounted for: see Hatz.-Darm. s.v. effondrer, Körting Lat.-Rom.-Wb. s. vv. exfundulare,infundulare; a popular Lat. type *fundor re may have existed, f. fundora (see Du Cange) pl. of fundus neut., whence Fr. fonds, FOUNCE.] 

     1. trans. To burst or smash (something) in; to force a passage through. Obs.

13.. Coer de L. 5266 He gaff Richard a sory flatt, That foundryd bacynet and hat. c1330 R. BRUNNE Chron. (1725) 183 And whan he was withinne, & fauht as a wilde leon, He fondred e Sarazins otuynne & fauht as a dragon.

     2. To send to the bottom, cause to be swallowed up or engulfed. Obs.

13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1014 is watz a uengeaunce violent at voyded ise places, at foundered hatz so fayr a folk & e folde sonkken. 1490 CAXTON Eneydosxxvii. 97 Haue no mercy..of ony man that lyueth, foundre & droune altogider [F. effondres tout] in-to the botome of the sea.

    3. intr. Of the earth, a building, etc.: To fall down, give way.

1489 CAXTON Faytes of A. II. xxxv. 153 The toure foundred and sanke doune in to the grounde. a1697 AUBREY Wilts. (Royal Soc. MS.) 106 (Halliw.) A quantity of earth foundred and fell downe a vast depth. 1830 LYELL Princ. Geol. I. 274 We find that the cliffs of Bawdsey and Felixtow are foundering slowly.

     b. trans. To undermine. Also fig. Obs.

1655 FULLER Ch. Hist. III. iv. §13 King John having his soul battered without, with forrain fears, and foundred with~in by the falsenesse of his Subjects, sunk on a sudden beneath himself. a1656 USSHER Ann. v. (1658) 60 The river..foundering the wall thereof 20 furlongs in length, bare it down.

    4. intr. (Chiefly of a horse or its rider.) To stumble violently, fall helplessly to the ground, collapse; to fall lame; occas. to sink or stick fast (in mire or bog).

c1386 CHAUCER Knt's. T. 1829 For which his hors for feere gan to turne, And leep asyde, and foundred as he leep. c1450 Golagros & Gaw. 1022 As he loutit our ane bra, His feit founderit hym fra. 1513 DOUGLAS Æneis X. xiv. 157 Down swakkis the knycht sone with a fellon fayr, Foundris fordwart flatlingis on hys spald. c1560 A. SCOTT Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 163 To grund, for fersness, he did funder. 1563 Homilies II. Rogation Week IV. (1859) 498 Where~by thy poor nyghbour, sitting on his seelly weak beast, foundereth not in the deep thereof. 1713 STEELE Guard. No. 132 6 The man is a thick-skull'd puppy, and founders like a horse. 1875 F. HALL in Lippincott's Mag. XVI. 749/1 The guide had strayed off the ford, and I was foundering in a quicksand. 1880 MUIRHEAD Gaius III. §219 When a man has..driven another's horse so hard as to cause it to founder.

    5. trans. To cause to break down or go lame; esp. to cause (a horse) to have the founder, thus disabling him.

1593 NASHE 4 Lett. Confut. 51 A broken-winded..Iade, that..now is quite foundred and tired. 1608 Yorksh. Trag. I. viii, O stumbling jade..Plague founder thee. 1674 N. COX Gentl. Recreat. I. (1677) 97 You will surbate or founder your Hounds. 1680 W. HACKE Collect. Voy. II. (1699) 3 A very bad Path, which with our being necessitated to wade the River..almost foundred our Men. 1732 GAY Achilles 1, He will quite founder himself with galloping from place to place to look after me. 1884 W. C. SMITH Kildrostan 74 She..rode my pony till she foundered him.

    b. fig.

1589 R. HARVEY Pl. Perc. 18 Such firie Agues fall soonest into a surfeit, and founder themselues with their intemperate behauiour. 1645 MILTON Colast.(1851) 365 Founder himself to and fro in his own objections. 1658 BRAMHALL Consecr. Bps. vi. 148 And so your Consequence..is foundered of all four, and can neither passe nor repasse.

    ¶c. Confused with FOUND v.5: To benumb.

1562 [see FOUND v.5]. 1578 LYTE Dodoens III. xix. 342 The Oyle..is good..for members that are benummed or foundered.

    6. intr. Of a vessel: To fill with water and sink, go to the bottom. [= OF. s'enfondrer: cf. sense 2.]

1600 HAKLUYT Voy. III. 398 Already she had receiued in much water, insomuch that she beganne to founder. 1719 DE FOE Crusoe I. i, The seamen every now and then cried out she would founder. 1882 WHITE Naval Archit. 13 Ships founder when the entry of water into the interior causes a serious and fatal loss of floating power.

    b. fig. To ‘come to grief’, be wrecked.

1613 SHAKES. Hen. VIII, III. ii. 40 But in this point All his trickes founder. 1816 KEATINGE Trav. (1817) I. 56 note, Spain began to founder from the loss of the Low Countries: but a first-rate ship does not go down like a wherry.

    7. trans. To cause (a ship) to fill with water and sink; to send to the bottom.

1659 D. PELL Impr. Sea 305 When a vessel is, or comes once to bee foundered, there is no possibility of her being helped up. [But this may be sense 6.]1748 F. SMITH Voy. Disc. I. 52 Capable of pierceing a Ship under her Bends, so foundering her. 1893 G. ALLEN Scallywag III. 110 A great ship was being foundered and ground to pieces by some invisible force within a few yards of them.

    8. Golf. To hit (a ball) into the ground.

1880 ‘CAPT. CRAWLEY’ Football, etc. 96 The young Golfer..is likely to founder the ball, or drive it only a comparatively short distance.

    ¶9. erron. = Fr. fondre: To burst (into tears).

c1477 CAXTON Jason 5 The damoiseau Jason..began thenne to foundre in teeris right habondantly. [Often in Caxton.] c1530 LD. BERNERS Arth. Lyt. Bryt.(1814) 51 The king foundred all in teeres.

    Hence foundering vbl. n. and ppl. a.

1548 HALL Chron., Hen. VI (an. 13) 127 Matthew Gouth, by founderyng of his horsse, was taken. 1602 WARNER Alb. Eng. IX. liii. (1612) 238 No one thing quailes Religion more than foundring Presbytrie. 1614 MARKHAM Cheap Husb. I. li. (1668) 62 Of Foundring in the Feet there be two sorts, a dry and a wet.1802 C. JAMES Milit. Dict. s.v., Foundering in the feet..Foundering in the chest. 1813 SCOTT Rokeby I. xvii, Rescued from our foundering skiff.