WordNet

measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line (同)sound
(mining) a unit of volume (equal to 6 cubic feet) used in measuring bodies of ore (同)fthm
a linear unit of measurement (equal to 6 feet) for water depth (同)fthm
have certain dimensions; "This table surfaces measures 20inches by 36 inches"
how much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify (同)quantity, amount
any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal; "the situation called for strong measures"; "the police took steps to reduce crime" (同)step
a container of some standard capacity that is used to obtain fixed amounts of a substance
musical notation for a repeating pattern of musical beats; "the orchestra omitted the last twelve bars of the song" (同)bar
evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, or significance of; "I will have the family jewels appraised by a professional"; "access all the factors when taking a risk" (同)evaluate, valuate, assess, appraise, value
determine the measurements of something or somebody, take measurements of; "Measure the length of the wall" (同)mensurate, measure out
judge tentatively or form an estimate of (quantities or time); "I estimate this chicken to weigh three pounds" (同)gauge, approximate, guess, judge
a judgment of the qualities of something or somebody; "many factors are involved in any estimate of human life"; "in my estimation the boy is innocent" (同)estimation
the respect with which a person is held; "they had a high estimation of his ability" (同)estimation
an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth; "an estimate of what it would cost"; "a rough idea how long it would take" (同)estimation, approximation, idea
a statement indicating the likely cost of some job; "he got an estimate from the car repair shop"
fix in scope; fix the boundaries of; "the tree determines the border of the property"
find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort; "I want to see whether she speaks French"; "See whether it works"; "find out if he speaks Russian"; "Check whether the train leaves on time" (同)check, find_out, see, ascertain, watch, learn
establish after a calculation, investigation, experiment, survey, or study; "find the product of two numbers"; "The physicist who found the elusive particle won the Nobel Prize" (同)find, find_out, ascertain
fix conclusively or authoritatively; "set the rules" (同)set
shape or influence; give direction to; "experience often determines ability"; "mold public opinion" (同)shape, mold, influence, regulate
the act or process of assigning numbers to phenomena according to a rule; "the measurements were carefully done"; "his mental measurings proved remarkably accurate" (同)measuring, measure, mensuration
of depth; not capable of being sounded or measured
impossible to come to understand
(of meaning) capable of being penetrated or comprehended
(of depth) capable of being sounded or measured for depth (同)plumbable, soundable

PrepTutorEJDIC

ひろ(6フィート;1.83メートル;おもに水深を測るのに用いる) / …‘の'水深を測る / 《通例不定文で》…‘を'十分に理解する,〈人の心など〉‘を'見抜く
〈U〉(測って得た)『寸法』,『分量』,広さ,重さ / 〈C〉(インチ・グラムの)『度量の単位』 / 〈U〉度量法,測瀬法 / 〈C〉『計量器具』(物差し,巻き尺,ますなど) / 〈C〉(判断・評価などの)基準,尺度(standard)《+『of』+『名』》 / 〈U〉〈C〉限界,限度(limit) / 〈U〉《時にa~》ある程度,度合いの(の・・・)《+『of』+『名』》 / 《複数形で》『手段』,方法;対策,処置 / 〈C〉法案,法令,条例 / 〈C〉(音楽の)小節(bar);リズム,拍子 / 〈U〉(詩の)韻の)韻律,格調;詩脚,歩脚(foot) / 〈大きさ・広さ・量など〉‘を'『測る』 / 〈インチ・グラムなどが〉…‘を'測る単位である / …‘を'慎重に考える,判断する / 《数量を表す副詞的用事の名詞[句]を伴って》(…の)長さ(広さ,重さなど)がある / 測る,測定する
…‘を'『見積る』,概算する / 《副詞[句]を伴って》〈人物・状況など〉‘を'『評価する』・判断する / (…を)見積る《+『for』+『名』》 / 〈C〉(寸法・数量・価値などの)『見積り』,概算,評価[額];見積書《+『of』+『名』》 / 〈U〉〈C〉評価,評定《+『of』+『名』》
(前もって)…‘を'『決定する』,はっきりさせる / …‘を'『決心する』,決意する / 《『determine』+『名』+『to』 do》〈物事が〉(…することを)〈人〉‘に'決心させる』,決意させる / …‘を'『左右する』,決定づける / 〈数量・位置・速度など〉‘を'測定する,確認する / (…を)決心する,決定する《+『on』+『名』(do『ing』)》
〈U〉『測定』,測量 / 〈C〉《複数形で》『寸法』 / 〈U〉測定法,測量法
深さが測れない,底なしの / 不可解な,はかりしれない
測れないもど深い,底なしの / 不可解な
測り知れない,深遠な

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出典(authority):フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』「2012/08/29 11:20:17」(JST)

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This article is about the unit of length. For other uses, see Fathom (disambiguation).

A fathom (abbreviation: ftm) = 1.8288 meters, is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.

There are two yards (6 feet) in an imperial or U.S. fathom.^[1] Originally based on the distance between the man's outstretched arms, the size of a fathom has varied slightly depending on whether it was defined as a thousandth of an (Admiralty) nautical mile or as a multiple of the imperial yard. Formerly, the term was used for any of several units of length varying around 5–5+¹⁄₂ feet (1.5–1.7 m).

The name derives from the Old English word fæðm, corresponding to the old Frisian (Northern Dutch) word "fadem" meaning embracing arms or a pair of outstretched arms.^[2]^[3]^[4] In Middle English it was fathme. A cable length, based on the length of a ship's cable, has been variously reckoned as equal to 100 or 120 fathoms. At one time, a quarter meant a fourth of a fathom.

Abbreviations: f, fath, fm, fth, fthm.

International fathom

One fathom is equal to:

1.8288 metres exactly (1 metre is about 0.5468 fathoms)^[5]
2 yards (1 yard is exactly 0.5 fathoms)
6 feet (1 foot is about 0.1667 fathoms)
18 hands
72 inches

In 1959 the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom defined the length of the international yard to be exactly 0.9144 metre. With the adoption of the metric SI system the use of fathoms declined.

British fathom

The British Admiralty defined a fathom to be a thousandth of an imperial nautical mile (which was 6080 ft) or 6.08 feet (1.85 m). In practice the "warship fathom" of exactly 6 feet (1.8 m) was used in Britain and the United States.^[6] No conflict in the real world existed as depths on Imperial nautical charts were indicated in feet if less than 30 feet (9.1 m) and in fathoms for depths above that. Until the 19th century in England, the length of the fathom was more variable: from 5½ feet on merchant vessels to either 5 feet (1.5 m) or 7 feet (2.1 m) on fishing vessels (from 1.7 to 1.5 or 2.1 m).^[6]

Use of the fathom

Water depth

Most modern nautical charts indicate depth in metres. However, the U.S. Hydrographic Office uses feet and fathoms.^[7] A nautical chart will always explicitly indicate the units of depth used.

To measure the depth of shallow waters, boatmen used a sounding line containing fathom points, some marked and others in between, called deeps, unmarked but estimated by the user.^[8] Water near the coast and not too deep to be fathomed by a hand sounding line was referred to as in soundings or on soundings.^[9] The area offshore beyond the 100 fathom line, too deep to be fathomed by a hand sounding line, was referred to as offsoundings or out of soundings.^[10] A deep-sea lead, the heaviest of sounding leads, was used in water exceeding 100 fathoms in depth.^[11]

This technique has been superseded by sonic depth finders for measuring mechanically the depth of water beneath a ship, one version of which is the Fathometer (trademark).^[12] The record made by such a device is a fathogram.^[13] A fathom line or fathom curve, a usually sinuous line on a nautical chart, joins all points having the same depth of water, thereby indicating the contour of the ocean floor.^[14]

Line length

The components of a commercial fisherman's setline were measured in fathoms. The rope called a groundline, used to form the main line of a setline, was usually provided in bundles of 300 fathoms. A single 50-fathom skein (91 m) of this rope was referred to as a line. Especially in Pacific coast fisheries the setline was composed of units called skates, each consisting of several hundred fathoms of groundline, with gangions and hooks attached. A tuck seine or tuck net about 70 fathoms long (130 m), and very deep in the middle, was used to take fish from a larger seine.

A line attached to a whaling harpoon was about 150 fathoms long (270 m). A forerunner — a piece of cloth tied on a ship's log line some fathoms from the outboard end — marked the limit of drift line. A kite was a drag, towed under water at any depth up to about 40 fathoms, which upon striking bottom, was upset and rose to the surface.

A shot, one of the forged lengths of chain joined by shackles to form an anchor cable, was usually 15 fathoms long (27 m).

In Finland, fathom (syli) is sometimes, albeit seldom, used as a maritime unit, ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of a nautical mile and ¹⁄₁₀₀ of cable length.

Burial

It is customary, when burying the dead, to inter the corpse at a fathom's depth, or six feet under. A burial at sea (where the body is weighted to force it to the bottom) requires a minimum of six fathoms of water. This is the origin of the phrase "to deep six" as meaning to discard, or dispose of.^[15]

On land

Until early in the 20th century, it was the unit used to measure the depth of mines (mineral extraction) in the United Kingdom.^[16] Miners also use it as a unit of area equal to 6 square feet (0.56 m²) in the plane of a vein.^[2] In Britain, it can mean the quantity of wood in a pile of any length measuring 6 feet (1.8 m) square in cross section.^[2]

Notes

^ Encyclopædia Britannica eleventh edition 1911.
^ ^a ^b ^c Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989;
^ Bosworth, Joseph; Thomas Toller (ed.) (1898). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. http://beowulf.engl.uky.edu/cgi-bin/Bosworth-Toller/ebind2html3.cgi/bosworth?seq=285.
^ Fathom - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
^ "Sea measures". Admiralty Manual of Seamanship. HMSO. 1995. p. 1·19. ISBN 0-11-772696-6.
^ ^a ^b Fenna (2000: 88-89)
^ "NOAA Chart". http://www.oceangrafix.com/o.g/Charts/chartViewer.html?viewRegion=GreatLakes&viewChart=Lake-Huron. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
^ Sounding lead. By James Mathews. Navy & Marine Living History Association.
^ Burney: "Vocbulary of Sea Terms", 1876.
^ MarineWaypoints.com - Nautical Glossary. SandyBay.net - Marine Directory (MarineWaypoints.com) and Reference Directory (StarDots.com).
^ The new way and the old; how the sounding machine has superseded the deep sea lead. The New York Times, June 6, 1892, page 5.
^ Field Procedures Manual, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office of Coast Survey. May 2008. In chapter 7, Glossary, page 252.
^ Hydrographic Manual. By Captain Karl B. Jeffers. Publication 20-2, Coast and Geodetic Survey, U. S. Department Of Commerce. Posted by the Hydrographic Society of America.
^ Glossary of Marine Navigation. Page 763. I'd Rather Be Sailing.
^ Hirsch, Jr, E.D.; Kett, Joseph F; Trefi, James (2002). The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-22647-8.
^ "Mining Encyclopaedia". U.K. Mine and Quarry Information and Exploration. http://www.mine-explorer.co.uk/open-htm-white-paper.asp?id=4. Retrieved 2007-05-28.

References

Fenna, Donald (2002). "fathom". A Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units. Oxford: University Press. ISBN 0-19-860522-6 .

External links

An explanation of the fathom marks used at sea (retrieved Sept 2005).
Fathom - LoveToKnow 1911. 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica - Free Online.
Hungarian web page that refers to the length of a "bécsi öl"

English Journal

Making Expert Decisions Easier to Fathom: On the Explainability of Visual Object Recognition Expertise.

Hegdé J1,2, Bart E3.
Frontiers in neuroscience.Front Neurosci.2018 Oct 12;12:670. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00670. eCollection 2018.
PMID 30369862

Intracellular displacement of p53 using transactivation domain (p53 TAD) specific nanobodies.

Steels A1, Verhelle A1, Zwaenepoel O1, Gettemans J1.
mAbs.MAbs.2018 Oct;10(7):1045-1059. doi: 10.1080/19420862.2018.1502025. Epub 2018 Sep 11.
PMID 30111239

Modeling sphere dynamics in blood vessels for SIRT pre-planning - To fathom the potential and limitations.

Kretz D1, Hesser J2, Glatting G3, Diehl S4, Wenz F5, He W6, Zheng L6.
Zeitschrift fur medizinische Physik.Z Med Phys.2018 Jul 23. pii: S0939-3889(17)30160-5. doi: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2018.05.006. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID 30049550

Dissolution and redistribution of trace elements and nutrients during dredging of iron monosulfide enriched sediments.

Choppala G1, Moon E2, Bush R3, Bolan N4, Carroll N5.
Chemosphere.Chemosphere.2018 Jun;201:380-387. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.01.164. Epub 2018 Feb 19.
PMID 29525666