fathom
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: nautical
transport
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”)
Inflected forms:
form: fathoms
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: fathoms
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: fathoming
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: fathomed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: fathomed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: US
historical
examples: [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.
Full fadom fiue thy Father lies,
Of his bones are Corrall made:
Those are pearles that were his eies,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a Sea-change
Into someting rich, & strange
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: US
historical
gloss: A measure of distance to shore: the nearest point to shore at which the water depth is the value quoted.
pos: noun
tags: US
examples: After we'd rowed for an hour, we found ourselves stranded ten fathoms from shore.
At fifty fathoms, the waters of the Southern Ocean are dark blue.
gloss: An unspecified depth.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
in-plural
gloss: Depth of insight; mental reach or scope.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
figuratively
obsolete
examples: Another of his fathome they haue not / To leade their buſineſſe, […]
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
gloss: Someone or something that is embraced.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: 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.
gloss: Control, grasp.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
obsolete
examples: So; novv knovv I vvhere I am, me thinkes already / I graſpe beſt part of the Autumnian bleſſing / In my contentious fadome, […]
Yes: / you have blovvne his ſvvolne pride to that vaſtnes, / as he beleeves the earth is in his fadom, / this makes him qute forget his humble Being: […]
gloss: To measure the depth of (water); to take a sounding of; to sound.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
transitive
gloss: To encircle (someone or something) with outstretched arms; specifically, to measure the circumference or (rare) length of something.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
obsolete
transitive
gloss: Often followed by out: to deeply understand (someone or something); to get to the bottom of.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: I can’t for the life of me fathom what this means.
Otamendi’s selection ahead of Vincent Kompany was difficult to fathom and, apart from Fernandinho, City’s line-up was otherwise filled with attacking players.
gloss: To embrace (someone or something).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
gloss: To measure a depth; to sound.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To conduct an examination or inquiry; to investigate.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
Related words: deep six
Derived words: fathomage
fathometer
fathomly
fathomability
fathomable
fathomer
fathoming
fathomless
fathomlessly
unfathom
unfathomability
unfathomable
Translations:
lang: Aklanon
word: dupa
lang: Arabic
word: قامة
roman: qāma
lang: Bulgarian
word: фатом
roman: fatom
lang: Bulgarian
word: клафтер
roman: klafter
lang: Catalan
word: braça
lang: Cebuano
word: dupa
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 英寻
roman: yīngxún
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 英尋 /英寻
roman: yīngxún
lang: Czech
word: sáh
lang: Danish
word: favn
lang: Dutch
word: vadem
lang: Erzya
word: сэль
roman: sëľ
lang: Esperanto
word: klafto
lang: Estonian
word: süld
lang: Faroese
word: favnur
lang: Finnish
word: syli
lang: French
word: brasse
lang: French
word: toise
lang: Galician
word: braza
lang: Georgian
word: საზღვაო საჟენი
roman: sazɣvao saženi
lang: Georgian
word: ზღვის საჟენი
roman: zɣvis saženi
lang: German
word: Faden
lang: German
word: Klafter
lang: Greek
word: οργιά
roman: orgiá
lang: Ancient Greek
word: ὀργυιά
roman: orguiá
lang: Hebrew
word: פַאדוֹם
roman: fadom
lang: Hebrew
word: אַמַּת יָם
roman: amat yam
lang: Higaonon
word: dupa
lang: Hungarian
word: öl
lang: Icelandic
word: faðmur
lang: Ilocano
word: deppa
lang: Irish
word: feá
lang: Isnag
word: dappa
lang: Italian
word: braccio
lang: Japanese
word: ファゾム
roman: fazomu
lang: Japanese
word: 尋
roman: hiro
lang: Malay
word: depa
lang: Mansaka
word: dupa
lang: Māori
word: aronui
lang: Māori
word: mārō
lang: Māori
word: whanganga
lang: Norman
word: brache
lang: Occitan
word: braça
lang: Persian
word: باز
roman: bāz
lang: Persian
word: باژ
roman: bāž
lang: Persian
word: بازه
roman: bāze
lang: Polish
word: sążeń
lang: Portuguese
word: braça
lang: Romanian
word: fathom
lang: Romanian
word: braț
lang: Romanian
word: stânjen marin
lang: Russian
word: фадом
roman: fadom
lang: Russian
word: фатом
roman: fatom
lang: Russian
word: морская са́жень
roman: morskaja sáženʹ
lang: Sanskrit
word: व्याम
roman: vyāma
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: хва̑т)
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: hvȃt
lang: Slovak
word: siaha
lang: Slovene
word: seženj
lang: Spanish
word: braza
lang: Swedish
word: famn
lang: Tagalog
word: dipa
lang: Telugu
word: బార
roman: bāra
lang: Tetum
word: roha
lang: Thai
word: วา
roman: waa
lang: Tocharian B
word: keṣe
lang: Turkish
word: kulaç
lang: Ottoman Turkish
word: قولاچ
roman: kulaç
lang: Ukrainian
word: фатом
roman: fatom
lang: Ukrainian
word: сажень
roman: saženʹ
lang: Welsh
word: gwrhyd
lang: Welsh
word: gwryd