soundings

Noun (1)

sounding (plural soundings)

1. The action of the verb to sound.
   • And thus did the trumpets sound one-and-twenty blasts every day; […] three soundings at the three pausings of the music, […]c. 1650, John Lightfoot, The Temple-Service

Noun (2)

sounding (countable and uncountable, plural soundings)

1. A test made with a probe or sonde.
   • Soundings showed wide variations in depths of water, and from the dredgings of the bottom came new types of sediment […]2011, John P. Rafferty, Oceans and Oceanography, page 189
2. A measured depth of water.
   • The sailor took a sounding every five minutes
3. (in plural) Any place or part of the ocean, or other water, where a sounding line will reach the bottom.
   • We'll rant and we'll roar across the salt seas; Until we strike soundings in the Channel of old Englanda. 1840, Spanish Ladies (naval song, chorus)
4. The sand, shells, etc. brought up by the sounding lead when it has touched bottom.
5. The act of inserting of a thin metal rod into the urethra of the penis for medical or sexual purposes.(See urethral sounding).

See all 8 meanings of sounding