depth finder
1
5.0
- noun
- Specialized
:
sonar de profundidad
- The depth finder read 500 feet.
- use a depth finder
- depth finder to locate
- watch your depth finder
Examples
-
Before we cast our lines, we checked the depth finder to see how deep the water was.
-
But the depth finder showed 5 feet.
Fiction book (2001) -
And I also packed a depth finder and an underwater scanner.
-
I peered at the green glow of my high-tech instruments: a depth finder and a global positioning system.
Fiction book (2001) -
However, today we see that many sport and recreational anglers use depth finders to locate the best fishing spots and fish, while commercial fishing endeavors may combine aircraft spotters and sonar to locate large schools of fish.
Academic text (2007) -
The captain relied on the depth finder to navigate through the shallow waters safely.
-
Using a depth finder, the fisherman quickly located the best spots to catch fish.
Synonyms
79
4.0
A device that uses sound to find objects under water
11
7.9
A device that measures water depth by sending sound and listening for its return
1
9.9
A device that uses sound waves to measure the depth of water
1
5.3
A device that measures water depth by sending sound and timing the echo
A device that uses sound waves to measure how deep water or things under it are
A tool that measures how deep water is, for example in the sea or a lake
An instrument that measures how deep water is in the sea or lakes
Surface Forms
Morphology
depth + finder
The meaning 'an instrument for measuring depth' is directly and compositionally derived from 'depth' (measure from surface to bottom) + 'finder' (one/thing that finds). This noun + agent/instrument compounding is a regular, cross-linguistically common pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The compound noun depth finder comes from the simple image of a tool that 'finds' how deep the water is, like sailors dropping a weight on a line until it touched the bottom. The word depth means 'how deep' and finder means 'something that finds', so the name clearly means 'a device that measures the depth of water'.