foundation

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of founding, especially the establishment of an institution with provisions for future maintenance.
• noun The basis on which a thing stands, is founded, or is supported. synonym: base.
• noun Funds for the perpetual support of an institution; an endowment.
• noun An institution founded and supported by an endowment.
• noun A cosmetic used as a base for facial makeup.
• noun A woman's supporting undergarment, such as a corset or girdle.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In ship-building, any part of a ship's structure which is built up or specially reinforced to support heavy weights, as engines and boilers, turrets, guns, boat-cranes, etc.
• noun The act of founding, originating, or beginning to raise or build; the act of establishing.
• noun The solid ground or substructure on which the walls of a building rest; also, the lowest division of the building or wall, which is generally below the surface of the ground.
• noun Hence The basis or groundwork of anything; that on which anything stands and by which it is supported or confirmed.
• noun A fund invested for a benevolent or charitable purpose; a donation or legacy for the support of an institution, as a school or hospital, or of some specific object, as a college professorship, a ward in a hospital, etc.; an endowment.
• noun That which is founded or established by endowment; an endowed institution or charity.
• noun In crochet, knitting, etc., the first stitches put upon the needles, to which all that follows is secured.
• noun Same as foundation-muslin and -net.
• noun In apiculture, a sheet of wax, artificially shaped to resemble the foundation of a comb, attached to the slats or bars of a hive, or placed in a honey-frame, to induce the bees to build combs where desired; a guide-comb.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to erect.
• noun That upon which anything is founded; that on which anything stands, and by which it is supported; the lowest and supporting layer of a superstructure; groundwork; basis.
• noun (Arch.) The lowest and supporting part or member of a wall, including the base course (see Base course (a), under Base, n.) and footing courses; in a frame house, the whole substructure of masonry.
• noun A donation or legacy appropriated to support a charitable institution, and constituting a permanent fund; endowment.
• noun That which is founded, or established by endowment; an endowed institution or charity.
• noun See Base course, under Base, n.
• noun an open-worked gummed fabric used for stiffening dresses, bonnets, etc.
• noun in England, an endowed school.
• noun to be entitled to a support from the proceeds of an endowment, as a scholar or a fellow of a college.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to erect.
• noun That upon which anything is founded; that on which anything stands, and by which it is supported; the lowest and supporting layer of a superstructure; groundwork; basis; underbuilding.
• noun architecture The lowest and supporting part or member of a wall, including the base course and footing courses; in a frame house, the whole substructure of masonry.
• noun A donation or legacy appropriated to support a charitable institution, and constituting a permanent fund; endowment.
• noun That which is founded, or established by endowment; an endowed institution or charity.
• noun cosmetics Cosmetic cream roughly skin-colored, designed to make the face appear uniform in color and texture.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun lowest support of a structure
• noun an institution supported by an endowment
• noun the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained
• noun the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new
• noun education or instruction in the fundamentals of a field of knowledge
• noun a woman's undergarment worn to give shape to the contours of the body
• noun the basis on which something is grounded