Foundering

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Founder \Found"er\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Foundered}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Foundering}.] [OF. fondrer to fall in, cf. F.
     s'effondrer, fr. fond bottom, L. fundus. See {Found} to
     establish.]
     1. (Naut.) To become filled with water, and sink, as a ship.
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     2. To fall; to stumble and go lame, as a horse.
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              For which his horse fear['e] gan to turn,
              And leep aside, and foundrede as he leep. --Chaucer.
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     3. To fail; to miscarry. "All his tricks founder." --Shak.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  foundering
       n : (of a ship) sinking [syn: {going under}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  29 Moby Thesaurus words for "foundering":
     collapsing, deciduous, declining, declivitous, decurrent,
     descendant, descending, down, down-reaching, downcoming,
     downfalling, downgoing, downhill, downsinking, downward, drooping,
     dropping, falling, on the descendant, on the downgrade, plummeting,
     plunging, sagging, setting, sinking, submerging, subsiding,
     tottering, tumbledown