foundation : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: foundation	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for foundation
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
foundation n the basis on which something is grounded; "there is little foundation for his objections" an institution supported by an endowment lowest support of a structure; "it was built on a base of solid rock"; "he stood at the foot of the tower" Synonym(s): foundation, base, fundament, foot, groundwork, substructure, understructure education or instruction in the fundamentals of a field of knowledge; "he lacks the foundation necessary for advanced study"; "a good grounding in mathematics" Synonym(s): foundation, grounding the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained; "the whole argument rested on a basis of conjecture" Synonym(s): basis, base, foundation, fundament, groundwork, cornerstone a woman's undergarment worn to give shape to the contours of the body Synonym(s): foundation garment, foundation the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new; "she looked forward to her initiation as an adult"; "the foundation of a new scientific society" Synonym(s): initiation, founding, foundation, institution, origination, creation, innovation, introduction, instauration
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Foundation \Founda"tion\, n. [F. fondation, L. fundatio. See {Found} to establish.] 1. The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to erect. 2. 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. Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone . . . a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. --Is. xxviii. 16. The foundation* of a free common wealth. --Motley. 3. (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. 4. A donation or legacy appropriated to support a charitable institution, and constituting a permanent fund; endowment. He was entered on the foundation of Westminster. --Macaulay. 5. That which is founded, or established by endowment; an endowed institution or charity. Against the canon laws of our foundation. --Milton. {Foundation course}. See {Base course}, under {Base}, n. {Foundation muslin}, an open-worked gummed fabric used for stiffening dresses, bonnets, etc. {Foundation school}, in England, an endowed school. {To be on a foundation}, to be entitled to a support from the proceeds of an endowment, as a scholar or a fellow of a college.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]:
foundation The axiom of foundation states that the membership relation is well founded, i.e. that any non-empty collection Y of sets has a member y which is disjoint from Y. This rules out sets which contain themselves (directly or indirectly).