sounding line
- noun
- /ˈsaʊndɪŋ laɪn/
- Archaic
:
línea de sondeo
- He marked knots on the sounding line to record different depths accurately.
Examples
-
The sailor used a sounding line to check the depth.
-
Using a sounding line is essential for determining how deep the sea is in uncharted waters.
-
Before sonar was invented, every ship carried a sounding line for safe navigation.
-
The sailor dropped the sounding line overboard to check the depth near the shore.
-
Can you bring the sounding line on our next trip?
-
The sailor attached a weight to the sounding line to measure the depth of the water before anchoring.
-
Before dropping anchor, the crew lowered a sounding line to check the depth and avoid running aground.
Synonyms
1
8.1
A rope with a heavy lead weight that sailors lower to measure water depth from a boat
1
9.3
A heavy metal weight tied to a rope used to measure how deep water is
How Deep
- Specialized
79
4.0
- Specialized
1
5.3
- Archaic
- Archaic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'sound' (to measure depth) + 'line' (a cord) yields a line used for sounding, so the overall sense is predictable from the parts. This follows regular English noun–noun/verb→noun compounding and is a common nautical logic cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would likely understand it.
Etymology
Sounding line comes from a simple ship tool: sailors dropped a weighted line to sound the depth until it touched the sea floor and then counted marks to see how deep the water was. So sounding line means 'a weighted line used to measure the depth of water'.