sounding line

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Related to sounding line: sounding lead, echo sounding

sounding line

A line marked at intervals of fathoms and weighted at one end, used to determine the depth of water. Also called lead line.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sounding line

(Navigation) a line marked off to indicate its length and having a sounding lead at one end. It is dropped over the side of a vessel to determine the depth of the water

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sound′ing line`

a line weighted with a lead or plummet and bearing marks to show the length paid out, used for sounding, as at sea.

[1300–50]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

sounding line - (nautical) plumb line for determining depth

lead line

sailing, seafaring, navigation - the work of a sailor

plumb line, perpendicular - a cord from which a metal weight is suspended pointing directly to the earth's center of gravity; used to determine the vertical from a given point

sounding lead - a metal bob at the end of a sounding line

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Now haul in the sounding line. It will be the work of some hours.

View in context

Then they seemed so familiar with French names and French authors: but my amazement reached its climax when Miss Temple asked Helen if she sometimes snatched a moment to recall the Latin her father had taught her, and taking a book from a shelf, bade her read and construe a page of Virgil; and Helen obeyed, my organ of veneration expanding at every sounding line. She had scarcely finished ere the bell announced bedtime!

View in context

'46, with compass and chain and sounding line. There have been many stories told about the bottom, or rather no bottom, of this pond, which certainly had no foundation for themselves.