sounding

noun

1. 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, […]

   In the course of his soundings, Sir Herbert Walker had heard favourable reports of O.V.S. Bulleid, currently Principal Assistant to Gresley on the LNER.

adjective

1. 1

   Emitting a sound.

   The sounding bell woke me up.

2. 2

   Sonorous.

   sounding words

   In her tomb by the sounding sea.

verb

1. 1

   Also a form of soundpresent participle and gerund of sound

   Little Mary was sounding very sleepy, so I tucked her in bed.

   "Assist"'s sense ‘to be present (at a ceremony, entertainment, etc.)’, now uncommon and sounding affected, is a Gallicism.

noun

1. 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 […]

   Morning sounding at Chatham showed dry adiabatic lapse rate all the way to 700 mb this morning […]

2. 2

   A measured depth of water.

   The sailor took a sounding every five minutes

3. 3

   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 England

4. 4

   The sand, shells, etc. brought up by the sounding lead when it has touched bottom.

5. 5

   The act of inserting of a thin metal rod into the urethra of the penis for medical or sexual purposes.(See urethral sounding).

Forms

plural

soundings