FOUNDATION (

See also:

• LAT

Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)  , the act of building, constituting or instituting on a permanent basis; especially the establishing of any institution by endowing or providing it with funds for its continual maintenance . The word is thus applied also to the institutions so established, such as a college, monastery or hospital; and the terms " on the foundation," or " foundationer," are used of members of such a college or society who enjoy, as fellows, scholars, &c., the benefits of the endowment . Formerly " foundation " also meant the charter or incorporation of any such institution or society, and it is still applied to the funds used for the endowment of such institutions . The terms " old foundation " and " new foundation " used in connexion with the organizing of English cathedral chapters have no reference to the age of the cathedrals . At the time of the Reformation under Henry VIII. the old college chapters were left unchanged, and are referred to as the " old foundations," but the monastic chapters were all suppressed, consequently new chapters had to be formed for their cathedrals and these constitute the " new foundations." " Foundation " also means the base (natural or artificial) on which any erection is built up; generally made below the level of the ground (see FOUNDATIONS below) . A foundation-stone is one of the stones at the base of a building, generally a corner-stone, frequently laid with a public ceremony to celebrate the commencement of the building . The term is also applied to the ground-work of any structure, such as, in dress-making, the underskirt over which the real skirt is hung, any material used for stiffening purposes, as " foundation muslin or net." In knitting or crochet the first stitches on to which all the rest are worked are called the " foundation chain." In gem-cutting the " foundation-square " is the first of eight squares round the edges of a brilliant made in bevel planes and from which the angles are all removed to form three-corner facets .