The foundation or substructure of a building.

Fig. (a) The basis of an institution or organization; (b) the groundwork for knowledge or learning; (c) preparation for the life to come.

(a) The ground upon which a house or a city is built; (b) footing, the ground under one's feet; also, the manner in which the feet are set upon the ground.

(a) The lowest part of something, that upon which something stands or is supported, the bottom, the base; the base of a candle, a pillar, etc., the trunk of a tree; ground and ~, bottom and base; (b) foundementes of erthe, the lowest depths of the earth, the foundations of the earth; foundementes of mountaines, that which underlies the mountains, the roots of the mountains; (c) unto the ~, completely, utterly.

(a) The evidence that something is true or valid; the authority for a statement or a definition, the basis of a doctrine, the grounds of an argument, the reason for a belief or an opinion; the reasoning which underlies an interpretation [quot.Pilgr.LM]; ~ and ground, reason and grounds; withouten ~, without basis in fact or authority, groundlessly; (b) an original or basic assumption; a statement used as a basis for further reasoning, an axiom or a postulate.

The beginning of an action; the founding of an institution or organization.

A source or cause: (a) a material object from which another material object grows or originates; (b) a source of life or strength; the source or cause of light or colors, that from which light or colors are made; a source or basis of the five senses; (c) the cause or source of an action; a cause of virtue or vice; a source of faith or religion; that which leads to fame; that which produces the cure of an injury.

Anat. (a) The lower extremity of the rectum, the anus; (b) of bones or bone structures: framework or foundation (of the body).

Astron. A fixed or stable portion of the universe; first ~, the empyrean heaven; other ~, the earth.