Forms: 5 fowndowr-, 5–6 founderesse, (7 -ess), 5–7 foundresse, 7–8 -res, 7– foundress. [f. FOUNDER sb.2 + -ESS.] A female founder; esp. a woman who founds or endows an institution, etc.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems, 11.
| First ther whas Gramer, as I reherse cane, | |
| Cheeff ffounderesse and roote of alle connyng. |
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, vi. 23. Dydo, somtyme quene and foundresse of the noble cyte of cartage.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 898. [Perkyn] retourned againe to the Lady Margaret his first foolish foundresse.
1631. Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 387. The chiefe Foundresse of this religious house is said to be Queene Margaret.
1778. Bp. Lowth, Transl. Isaiah, Notes (ed. 12), 328. Semiramis was the foundress of this part also of the Babylonian greatness.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 530, Timaeus, Introduction. For the sake of the goddess who is the common foundress of both our cities.
