DCHP-3

gut-foundered

DCHP-2 (Jul 2016)

Spelling variants:
gut foundered, gut-founded

adj. — Newfoundland

to be in a state of extreme hunger.

Type: 2. Preservation — The term gut-foundered describes a state of extreme hunger (see the 2006 quotation), or "the state of hunger at the end of the day" (see the first 2013 quotation). The term is a likely preservation from British English, attested in both EDD (s.v. "gut" (3)) and OED-3 (s.v. "gut-foundered" (a)). Note that OED-3 marks the term gut-foundered as "now dialectal", with the latest attestation from 1876 (see OED-3, s.v. "gut-foundered"(a)); this suggests the term lost currency in the UK in the late 19th century, which is supported by the present-day data in Chart 1. Gut-foundered appears in the Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785) defined as "exceeding hungry" (s.v. "gutfoundered").
In Newfoundland and Labrador English, however, the term has been preserved till today (see the 2013 and 2014 quotations). The term's present status as a linguistic stereotype is reflected by Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism's decision to publish a video explaining the term's meaning (see NL Tourism reference).
See also DNE, s.v. "gut-foundered", with evidence from 1975 and c. 1982 (see the quotations).

Quotations

1955
The party was getting rough, so I moseyed up the lane, headed east onto Duckworth Street and ended up on Shea's wharf in time to see a scaling steamer adrift in the harbour, and edging towards the rocks of the Battery. By this time I was gut-foundered, so made for home and needed food and warmth. The kitchen stove was flowing, and with cold damp feet in the oven, and a hot steaming bowl of lobscouse under my belt, I soon forgot the sealers' strike.
1975
GUY 48 You had better ask for two hot turkey sandwiches if you don't want to be gut-foundered before supper.
1979
BIBLICAL INCIDENT On a boundless plain of burnt sienna / Christ encountered the carrion angel. / Gut-foundered, giddy-headed / from forty days and forty nights / of staring into those stupid eyes, / [...]
1982
(1990) C 71-125 I wish the food was ready because I'm gut-foundered.
2006
Sticky fingers, clogged dental work and being covered ear to ear in barbecue sauce, pork fat and chicken grease had lost the great appeal it had had at 3 p.m. By dinnertime, after my stopgap 4 p.m. muffin and tea, I was merely "famished," not "gut-founded." Just to explain, for me the resolution of gut-foundedness is found in the sacrifice of birds and/or animals, slowly roasted over a naked flame.
2013
Quick, what’s the word to describe that feeling when food, however unappealing, is all you crave at the end of the day? Time is up. The answer (if you're from Newfoundland and Labrador) is "gut-foundered."
2013
Anyone who’d eat cods’ heads – fresh, salted or baked in a pie – would have to be gut foundered, famished, wasted by starvation.
2013
Gut foundered would usually be used to describe your state of hunger at the end of the day. Your mind wanders when you're gut foundered. Is it gonna be take-out? Is it gonna be pizza? Uh, what do I have home in the fridge? [...] You are famished. You're starved to death and you can't wait to get something to eat.
2014
All I couldn’t eat, anyway. Dearest Duck and a banquet hall crowd of famished diners, fisted into the grub as if they were gut-foundered, as if they’d spent the last 40 years wandering in a desert gobbing down manna.
2014
Seven Days of Culinary Intrigue [...] The tour company that brought you the original Eco-Culture Experience is back with a journey into the kitchens of our new cuisine. CapeRace has dreamed up 6 nights and 7 days for the gut-foundered that include stays in the foodie hotbed of St. John’s, the Bonavista Peninsula & the famed Fogo Island Inn.

References

Images

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 23 Jun. 2014

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 23 Jun. 2014