Library / English Dictionary

FATHOM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(mining) a unit of volume (equal to 6 cubic feet) used in measuring bodies of ore

Synonyms:

fathom; fthm

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("fathom" is a kind of...):

capacity measure; capacity unit; cubage unit; cubature unit; cubic content unit; cubic measure; displacement unit; volume unit (a unit of measurement of volume or capacity)

Domain category:

excavation; mining (the act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A linear unit of measurement (equal to 6 feet) for water depth

Synonyms:

fathom; fthm

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("fathom" is a kind of...):

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

Meronyms (parts of "fathom"):

pace; yard (a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride)

Derivation:

fathom (measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line

Synonyms:

fathom; sound

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "fathom" is one way to...):

measure; quantify (express as a number or measure or quantity)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fathom (a linear unit of measurement (equal to 6 feet) for water depth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come to understand

Synonyms:

bottom; fathom; penetrate

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "fathom" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Credits

 Context examples: 

One never knows what she has, sir: she is so cunning: it is not in mortal discretion to fathom her craft.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

We left a good stock of powder and shot, the bulk of the salt goat, a few medicines, and some other necessaries, tools, clothing, a spare sail, a fathom or two of rope, and by the particular desire of the doctor, a handsome present of tobacco.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

That also I could fathom.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And as for the vague something—was it a sinister or a sorrowful, a designing or a desponding expression? —that opened upon a careful observer, now and then, in his eye, and closed again before one could fathom the strange depth partially disclosed; that something which used to make me fear and shrink, as if I had been wandering amongst volcanic-looking hills, and had suddenly felt the ground quiver and seen it gape: that something, I, at intervals, beheld still; and with throbbing heart, but not with palsied nerves.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)