to founder
2
8.1
- verb
- /ˈfaʊndər/
:
hundirse
- The expedition's steamer, the Dayspring, foundered on rocks at Rabba on the Benue River in October 1857 and had to be abandoned.
- a ship foundered
Examples
-
When the ship foundered, he roped himself to the container and sank beneath the waves.
Academic text (2015) -
His patched-up ship foundered on the mainland coast, and several of the crew drowned.
Academic text (2002) -
This ship is going to founder.
-
"The ship foundered in a storm, all hands lost but me.
Fiction book (1995) -
Which of you is better at judging if a ship is foundering?
-
The ship was in imminent danger of foundering.
-
Now even with both of these compartments completely flooded, the ship won't founder.
-
When the Coral foundered in high seas just beyond the channel at dusk, all hands were lost.
Fiction book (1999) -
The old ship began to founder as it took on water during the storm.
-
After the collision, the vessel quickly started to founder beneath the waves.
Synonyms
76
2.5
To make something go below the surface of water and become submerged
Antonyms
Compounds
How Sunk
Surface Forms
Etymology
The verb founder (ship fill with water and sink) comes from old words meaning 'to go to the bottom', so a vessel that founders takes on water and sinks below the surface. In other words, a foundering ship 'goes under' like something dropping to the bottom.