foundry

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a factory or workshop where metal is melted and poured into molds to make cast objects

   The foundry cast the iron parts in reusable sand molds.

2. 2
   noun

   a plant that manufactures semiconductor chips, especially for other companies that design them

   The chip designer contracted a foundry to manufacture the new processor.

Borrowed from French fonderie, from fondre, 'to melt or cast,' ultimately from Latin fundere, 'to pour.' It is also transparent in English as found, the metalworking verb 'to melt and cast,' + -ry, a suffix for a place or process. The semiconductor sense extends the manufacturing-place idea.

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