[f. FOUND v.2 + -ER1: cf. OF. fondeor, -eur.]
1. ‘One who raises an edifice; one who presides at the erection of a city’ (J.).
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 79. Þe foundour of þis citee is vnknowe.
c. 1440. Bone Flor., 11.
| Antenowre was of that barme-teme, | |
| And was fownder of Jerusalem. |
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 8. It is said that Iulius Cæsar was the first founder of this tower, which he erected to the end to fortifie that place for his souldiers against the Gaules, and the bordering Britaines whom at that time he oppugned.
1728. Newton, Chronol. Amended, i. 161. Every City set up the worship of its own Founder and Kings, and by alliances and conquests they spread this worship, and at length the Phœnicians and Egyptians brought into Europe the practice of Deifying the dead.
1838. Murray’s Hand-bk. N. Germ., 477. The building displays the work of various hands, the taste of different founders, and the styles of successive centuries: it is highly interesting for its varied fortunes, its picturesque situation, its vastness, and the relics of architectural magnificence which it still displays, after having been three times burnt, and having ten times experienced the horrors of war.
† b. A maker or creator. Obs.
a. 1375. Joseph Arim., 68.
| He þat is mi foundeor · may hit folfulle, | |
| þat was ded on þe cros · & bouȝte us so deore. |
2. One who sets up or institutes for the first time; one who gives its first beginning to (an institution, sect, etc.). Formerly in wider use, an originator (of a practice or custom).
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 664. He [Mars] was fihtere fel · & foundur of werre.
1389. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 101. Ye first foundurs of yis gilde.
1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 32 b. It was done by such a secret crafte, that no man could tell who was the authoure and founder of that rumoure.
1563. Homilies, II. Wilful Rebel, IV. (1859), 583. The eternal damnation that is prepared for all impenient rebels in hell with Satan, the first founder of rebellion and grand captain of all rebels.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. i. Contents § 17. Leucippus and Democritus; That they were the first Atheizers of it, or the Founders of that Philosophy which is Atheistically Atomical.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 23.
| Inventor, Pallas, of the fat’ning Oil, | |
| Thou Founder of the Plough and Plough-man’s Toil. |
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. 357. Like Augustus, Diocletian may be considered as the founder of a new empire.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 24. While London was agitated by the news that a plot had been discovered, George Fox, the founder of the sect of Quakers, died.
1874. Helps, Soc. Press., iii. 52. The founders of great fortunes and great families are mostly men of very simple habits, and with very little inclination to expense.
3. One who founds or establishes (an institution) with an endowment for its perpetual maintenance.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. 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. Prideaux, Lett. (Camden), 122. Our founders monument being defaced in the late wars, I am again restoreing it.
1693. Bentley, Boyle Lect., II. 8. Proved … by none so perspicuously and copiously and accurately, as by the Honourable Founder of this Lecture.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Universities, Wks. (Bohn), II. 89. The pictures of the founders hang from the walls.
† 4. One who supports or maintains another. Obs.
1548. Hall, Chron. (1809), 491. He [Perkyn Warbeck] … with all hys complices and confederates, and Jhon Awater … one of hys founders and hys sonne, were … arreyned and condempned at Westmynster.
1613. Beaum. & Fl., Captain, I. iii.
| What a vengeance ails you, | |
| To be so childish to imagine me | |
| A founder of old fellows? |
5. Founder’s-shares, (-parts) pl., shares issued to the founders of a public company, as part of the consideration for the business or concession which is taken over, and not forming a part of the ordinary capital.
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.
