found

Formsfounds, founding, founded

Pluralfounds (some meanings)

1. 1
   discoveredverb

   Simple past and past participle of find.

   Rescuers found the missing hikers just before dark.

   The study found no link between the two treatments.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty here: the simple past of find (she found it) and its participle (has found, was found). It also collides with the verb meaning "establish", a separate word whose own past is founded. So they found a school can only mean they came upon one, while they founded a school means they started it.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To start an institution or organization, such as a company, school, or charity.

   Investors plan to found a research institute focused on clean energy.

   The monks founded the abbey in the ninth century.

   Similarestablish, start (entry), create, launch, institute

   Oppositedissolve, close, abolish

   Note

   Latin fundāre lies behind this verb, which reached English through Old French founder and is kin to fund. Unlike the past tense of find, it is fully regular: founds, founding, founded. Robert Barr writes of "the great business he founded" in Lord Stranleigh Abroad (1913), and founded, never found, is the past you want.

3. 3
   base onverbtransitive

   To use something as a basis or foundation; to base one thing on another.

   The committee chose to found its recommendations on the latest research.

   He founded his whole career on a single early discovery.

   Similarbase, ground, build, predicate, rest

   Note

   Here the thing being built is an argument rather than a house. Alexander Dirom's Remarks on Free Trade (1827) speaks of facts an author founded his reasoning upon, and a 1785 claim to the Scottish title of Lord Spynie was founded upon the Charter of 1590. The support follows on or upon. Its past is founded; found is the past of find.

4. 4
   start a buildingverbtransitive

   To begin the construction of a building or other structure.

   Medieval masons founded the cathedral on bedrock to support its enormous weight.

   Engineers chose to found the new terminal on rows of steel piles.

   Similarbuild, base, set, ground, erect

5. 5
   cast metalverbtransitive

   To cast metal objects, such as bells or cannon, from molten metal poured into a mold.

   Artisans founded the cannon in a single enormous pour.

   The shop still uses traditional methods to found church bells.

   Similarcast, mold

   Note

   Where the melting sense stops at the furnace, this one follows the metal into the mold. Cast names the same process in everyday speech, and found is the craftsman's word, natural with bells and cannon. Milton uses it in Paradise Lost (1667): "Whereof to found their engines."

6. 6
   meltverbtransitive

   To melt metal or glass, especially in an industrial furnace.

   The glassworks founds its raw materials overnight in a large furnace.

   Modern plants can found several tons of glass in a single day.

   Similarmelt, fuse

   Note

   A second, unrelated found begins here. It comes through Middle English founden and Old French fondre from Latin fundere, with cousins in Spanish fundir and hundir and French fondre. Because it shares every form with the verb meaning "establish" (founds, founded), only the object tells them apart: a works that founded glass melted it, and one that founded a school started it.

7. 7
   board and lodgingnoununcountable

   Food and lodging; board.

   Farmhands in those days earned thirty dollars a month and found.

   The position at the lodge included found along with a modest salary.

   Similarboard, keep

   Note

   Pay talk: the word rides after a wage figure, joined by and, as in working for day wages and found in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian (1985). It is uncountable and takes no article, and it comes from find. Even in James De Mille's The Cryptogram (1872) a listener has to ask "And—what?", so modern readers will usually need it explained.

8. 8
   furnace peaknountransitivecountable

   The period when a furnace is at its hottest, during which a batch of glass is fully melted.

   The found ran through the night, and by morning the batch had fused into clear molten glass.

   Studio assistants monitor the temperature closely throughout the found.

   Similarmelt

   Note

   Glassblowers use this word for the furnace's peak, the stretch when heat is held highest so the raw batch melts completely and fuses. Afterward the temperature comes down for gathering and shaping the glass. The noun belongs to the same melting family as the verb "to melt", and it takes no plural: one speaks of the found.

9. 9
   comb filenountransitivecountable

   A thin, single-cut file used by comb-makers.

   The comb-maker drew a found along each slot to finish the teeth.

   Her workbench held several founds of different widths for various comb patterns.

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