1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 664 He [Mars] was fihtere fel & foundur of werre.

1389 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 101 Y^e first foundurs of y^is gilde.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. xxxij^v No man could tell who was the authoure and founder of that rumoure.

1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Wilful Rebel. iv, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 583 Sathan, the first founder of Rebellion.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe Contents sig. a Leucippus and Democritus..were..the Founders of that Philosophy, which is Atheistically Atomical.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 50 Pallas..Thou Founder of the Plough and Plough-man's Toyl. View more context for this quotation

1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. 357 Like Augustus, Diocletian may be considered as the founder of a new empire.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 24 George Fox, the founder of the sect of Quakers.

1875 A. Helps Social Pressure iii. 52 The founders of great fortunes and great families.

1303 R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne 2584 He was fyrst founder and syre Of þe cherche of Knares myre.

1535–6 Act 27 Hen. VIII c. 28 Suche as pretende to be foundours, patrons or donours of suche relygyous houses.

1682 H. Prideaux Lett. (1875) 122 Our founders monument being defaced in the late wars, I am again restoreing it.

1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. ii. 8 The Honourable Founder of this Lecture.

1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xii. 201 The pictures of the founders hang from the walls.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. l He [sc. Perkyn Warbeck]..with all hys complices and confederates, and Jhon Awater..one of hys founders, and hys sonne, were..arreyned and condempned at Westmynster.

a1625 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Captaine i. iii, in Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Gg/2 What a vengeance ails ye, To be so childish to imagine me A founder of old fellows?

1909 Westm. Gaz. 23 Apr. 9/3 The committee of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom have decided that after the first thousand members have been elected, such thousand members being founder members, the subscription will be raised and an entrance fee charged.

1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 8 Mar. 63/2 A founder-member of the British Charollais Committee..said many farmers would like to see Charollais imported.

1889 Daily News 24 Oct. 7/2 The value of..founders' shares has grown unwieldy.

1896 Athenæum 1 Feb. 143/2 The invention of ‘founders' shares’..dates only from 1889.

1872–6 G. E. Voyle Mil. Dict. (ed. 3) Limit, Founder's. In the manufacture of ordnance, the limitation of error for guns, shot, &c. allowed to the founder.

c1450 Middle Eng. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 176 Do awey þe foundres [v.r. groundes] vnderneþe.

1882 Cornhill Mag. Dec. 738 A series of founders or land~slips, caused by the undermining of the solid strata.

1577 J. Frampton tr. N. Monardes Three Bookes ii. f. 45 Lorde Nicot,..firste founder out of this hearbe.

1734 High Peak Articles in Compl. Mineral Laws 22 Who..were or pretended to be possess'd of the same Ground as Taker of a Fore-field for an old Founder.

1851 T. Tapping Gloss. in Chron. Customs Lead Mines (E.D.S.) Founder is the mining term expressive of the finder of a vein, or rake, or in ordinary language, a miner.

1653 E. Manlove Liberties & Customes Lead-mines Derby 59 If two Founders in one Rake be set.

1747 W. Hooson Miners Dict. sig. Iijb Sometimes it happens that there is two Founders in the same Vein, for a Vein may be found at a distance from my Founder.

1802 J. Mawe Mineral. of Derbyshire 204 Foundermere, the first 32 yards of ground worked.

1802 J. Mawe Mineral. of Derbyshire 204 Foundershaft, the first shaft that is sunk.

1851 Act 14 & 15 Victoria c. 94 §2 The Word ‘Founder’ shall mean the Point at which a Vein of Ore shall be first found..the Words ‘Founder-Meers’ shall mean the Two first Meers to be set out to the Finder.

1547 W. Salesbury Dict. Eng. & Welshe Fraeo val march, fownder.

1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 12 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) They are subject to Beat or Founder to their Feet or Leggs.

1825 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. §6517 (1831) 987 Founder of the feet.

1884 T. Speedy Sport in Highlands iii. 31 Kennel lameness, founder, and rheumatism [in dogs] are often caused by [etc.]

1737 H. Bracken Farriery Improved xxxii. 469 They were often mistaken even in what they call the Chest or Body-founder.

1818 Sporting Mag. 2 171 I agree with the French writers that the founder is a fluxion.

c1330 R. Mannyng Chron. (1725) 183 And whan he was withinne, & fauht as a wilde leon, He fondred þe Sarazins otuynne & fauht as a dragon.

a1400 Coer de L. 5266 He gaff Richard a sory flatt, That foundryd bacynet and hat.

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness l. 1014 Þis watz a uengeaunce violent þat voyded þise places, Þat foundered hatz so fayr a folk & þe folde sonkken.

1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos xxvii. 97 Haue no mercy..of ony man that lyueth, foundre & droune altogider [Fr. effondres tout] in-to the botome of the sea.

c1405 (c1385) G. Chaucer Knight's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 1827 For which his hors for feere gan to turne And leep asyde, and foundred as he leep.

1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. cv^v As he loutit our ane bra His feit founderit hym fra.

1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid 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 2nd Tome Homelyes Rogation Week iv, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 498 Where~by thy poor nyghbour, sitting on his seelly weak beast, foundereth not in the deep thereof.

1713 R. Steele Guardian No. 132. ⁋6 The man is a thick-skull'd puppy, and founders like a horse.

1875 F. Hall in Lippincott's Monthly Mag. 16 749/1 The guide had strayed off the ford, and I was foundering in a quicksand.

1880 J. Muirhead tr. Gaius Institutes iii. 262 When a man has..driven another's horse so hard as to cause it to founder.

1659 D. Pell Πελαγος 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 Acct. Voy. for Discov. North-west Passage 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.

1878 ‘Capt. Crawley’ Football, Golf & Shinty 96 The young Golfer..is likely to founder the ball, or drive it only a comparatively short distance.

1477 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Hist. Jason (1913) 5 The damoiseau Iason..began thenne to foundre in teeris right habondantly.

a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) xxii. sig. Cv^v The kig [sic] foundred all in teeres.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cxxvij Matthew Gouth, by founderyng of his horsse, was taken.

1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) ix. liii. 240 No one thing quailes Religion more than foundring Presbytrie.

1614 G. Markham Cheape & Good Husbandry (1668) i. li. 62 Of Foundring in the Feet there be two sorts, a dry and a wet.

1802 C. James New Mil. Dict. (at cited word) Foundering in the feet..Foundering in the chest.

1813 W. Scott Rokeby i. xvi. 25 Rescued from our foundering skiff.