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e's capacity; depth, as of intellect; profundity; reach; penetration. [R.] Another of his fathom they have none To lead their business. Shak.

Capable of being fathomed.

One who fathoms.

Incapable of being fathomed; immeasurable; that can not be sounded. And buckle in a waist most fathomless. Shak.

To a fathomless depth; profoundly. "Abysmally ignorant." G. Eliot.

A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit. Ye powers and spirits of this nethermost abyss. Milton. The throne is darkness, in the abyss of light. Dryden.

Belonging to, or resembling, an abyss; unfathomable. Abyssal zone (Phys. Geog.), one of the belts or zones into which Sir E. Forbes divides the bottom of the sea in describing its plants, animals, etc. It is the one furthest from the shore, embracing all beyond one hundred fathoms deep. Hence, abyssal animals, plants,…

Without a bottom; hence, fathomless; baseless; as, a bottomless abyss. "Bottomless speculations." Burke.

e length of a ship's cable. Cables in the merchant service vary in length from 100 to 140 fathoms or more; but as a maritime measure, a cable's length is either 120 fathoms (720 feet), or about 100 fathoms (600 feet, an approximation to one tenth of a nautical mile). -- Cable tier. (a) That part of a vessel where the…

That which is profound, not easily fathomed, or incomprehensible; a moral or spiritual depth or abyss. Thy judgments are a great. Ps. xxxvi. 6. Deep of night, the most quiet or profound part of night; dead of night. The deep of night is crept upon our talk. Shak.

To dig into; to penetrate; to trace out; to fathom. I can not delve him to the root. Shak.

Of measureless depth; unfathomable. In clouds of depthless night. Francis.

A fathom. [Obs.] Chaucer.

the interval or zone along the sea bottom, at the depth of between fifty and one hundred fathoms. E. Forbes.

A fathom. [Obs.] Domesday Book.

ertaining to seaweeds of the genus Laminaria, or to that zone of the sea (from two to ten fathoms in depth) where the seaweeds of this genus grow.

ead. -- Deep-sea lead, the heaviest of sounding leads, used in water exceeding a hundred fathoms in depth. Ham. Nav. Encyc. -- Hand lead, a small lead use for sounding in shallow water. -- Krems lead, Kremnitz lead Etym: [so called from Krems or Kremnitz, in Austria], a pure variety of white lead, formed into tablet…

nning out of the log line. -- Log line (Naut.), a line or cord about a hundred and fifty fathoms long, fastened to the log-chip. See Note under 2d Log, n., 2. -- Log perch (Zoöl.), an ethiostomoid fish, or darter (Percina caprodes); -- called also hogfish and rockfish. -- Log reel (Naut.), the reel on which the log…

or colored bunting which are placed upon a sounding line at intervals of from two to five fathoms. The unmarked fathoms are called "deeps." A man of mark, a conspicuous or eminent man. -- To make one's mark. (a) To sign, as a letter or other writing, by making a cross or other mark. (b) To make a distinct or lasting i…

hence, to examine by test; to ascertain the depth, quality, dimension, etc.; to sound; to fathom; to test. He did not attempt to plumb his intellect. Ld. Lytton.