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Fathom
Definitions
- 1 A man's armspan, generally reckoned to be six feet (about 1.8 metres). Later used to measure the depth of water, but now generally replaced by the metre outside American usage. US, historical
"[T]he ſhipmen deemed that they drew neere to ſome countrey: And ſounded, and found it twentie fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they ſounded againe, and found it fifteene fathoms."
- 2 (mining) a unit of volume (equal to 6 cubic feet) used in measuring bodies of ore wordnet
- 3 A man's armspan, generally reckoned to be six feet (about 1.8 metres). Later used to measure the depth of water, but now generally replaced by the metre outside American usage.; An internationally standardized version of this unit, the international fathom (= 1.8288 metres = 6 feet). US, historical
- 4 a linear unit of measurement (equal to 6 feet) for water depth wordnet
- 5 A measure of distance to shore: the nearest point to shore at which the water depth is the value quoted. US
"After we'd rowed for an hour, we found ourselves stranded ten fathoms from shore."
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- 6 An unspecified depth. figuratively, in-plural
- 7 Depth of insight; mental reach or scope. archaic, figuratively, obsolete
"Another of his fathome they haue not / To leade their buſineſſe, […]"
- 8 The act of stretching out one's arms away from the sides of the torso so that they make a straight line perpendicular to the body. obsolete
- 9 Someone or something that is embraced. obsolete
"Thy Bride, thy choice, thy vvife, / She that is novv thy fadom, […] Kneele at thy feete, obay in euerie thing, / So euerie Father is a priuate King."
- 10 Control, grasp. figuratively, obsolete
"So; novv knovv I vvhere I am, me thinkes already / I graſpe beſt part of the Autumnian bleſſing / In my contentious fadome, […]"
- 1 To measure the depth of (water); to take a sounding of; to sound. also, figuratively, transitive
- 2 measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line wordnet
- 3 To encircle (someone or something) with outstretched arms; specifically, to measure the circumference or (rare) length of something. archaic, obsolete, transitive
- 4 come to understand wordnet
- 5 Often followed by out: to deeply understand (someone or something); to get to the bottom of. figuratively, transitive
"I can’t for the life of me fathom what this means."
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- 6 To embrace (someone or something). obsolete, transitive
- 7 To measure a depth; to sound. intransitive
- 8 To conduct an examination or inquiry; to investigate. figuratively, intransitive
Etymology
From Middle English fathome, fadom, fadme (“unit of length of about six feet; depth of six feet for nautical soundings; (loosely) cubit; ell”) [and other forms], from Old English fæþm, fæþme (“encircling or outstretched arms, bosom, embrace; envelopment; control, grasp, power; fathom (unit of measurement); cubit”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *faþm (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”), from Proto-Germanic *faþmaz (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”), from Proto-Indo-European *pet-, *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”). Cognates * Ancient Greek πέταλος (pétalos, “broad; flat”), πετᾰ́ννῡμῐ (petắnnūmĭ, “to open; to spread out; to be dispersed or scattered”) (whence English petal) * Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌸𐌰 (faþa, “fench; hedge”) * Latin pateō (“to extend, increase; to be accessible, attainable, open; to be exposed, vulnerable”) * Low German fadem, faem (“cubit; thread”) * Middle Dutch vadem (modern Dutch vaam, vadem (“fathom”)) * Norwegian Bokmål favn (“an embrace; a fathom”) * Old Frisian fethm (“outstretched arms”) * Old High German fadam, fadum (“cubit”) (Middle High German vade (“enclosure”), vadem, vaden, modern German Faden (“fathom; filament, thread”)) * Old Norse faþmr (Danish favn (“an embrace; a fathom”), Icelandic faðmur (“an embrace”), Swedish famn (“the arms, bosom; an embrace”)) * Old Welsh etem (“thread”)
From Middle English fathmen, fadmen (“to encircle (something) with the arms, embrace; to feel, grope; to measure by the ell (or perhaps the fathom)”) [and other forms], from Old English fæðmian, from Proto-Germanic *faþmōjan, from *faþm (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”): see further at etymology 1. Cognates * Old High German fademōn * Old Norse faþma (Danish favne (“to embrace”), Icelandic to embrace, hug; to cuddle, Swedish famna)
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