founder3 (founder)

[ fundus, bottom: see found2 and fund.] I. in trans. 1. Naut., to fill or become filled and sink, as a ship. Vain efforts! still the battering waves rush in, Implacable, till, delug'd by the foam, The ship sinks foundering in the vast aby . J. Philips, Splendid Shilling. The ship, no longer found'ring by the lee, Bears on her side th' invasions of the sea. Falconer , Shipwreck, iii. The house or hut is half sunk in the general accumulation [of snow], as if it had foundered and was going to the S. Judd , Margaret, i. 17. Hence-2. To fail; miscarry. bottom. The king. perceives him, how he coasts, And hedges, his own way. But in this point All his tricks founder . Shak ., Hen. VIII., iii. 2. Do I halt still i' the world, and trouble Nature, When her main pieces founder and fail daily?