Sound
(Sound), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sounded; p. pr. & vb. n. Sounding.] [F. sonder; cf. AS. sundgyrd
a sounding rod, sundline a sounding line (see Sound a narrow passage of water).]
1. To measure the depth of; to fathom; especially, to ascertain the depth of by means of a line and plummet.
2. Fig.: To ascertain, or try to ascertain, the thoughts, motives, and purposes of (a person); to examine; to
try; to test; to probe.
I was in jest,
And by that offer meant to sound your breast.
Dryden.
I've sounded my Numidians man by man.
Addison. 3. (Med.) To explore, as the bladder or urethra, with a sound; to examine with a sound; also, to examine
by auscultation or percussion; as, to sound a patient.
Sound
(Sound) v. i. To ascertain the depth of water with a sounding line or other device.
I sound as a shipman soundeth in the sea with his plummet to know the depth of sea.
Palsgrave. Sound
(Sound), n. [F. sonde. See Sound to fathom.] (Med.) Any elongated instrument or probe,
usually metallic, by which cavities of the body are sounded or explored, especially the bladder for stone,
or the urethra for a stricture.
Sound
(Sound), n. [OE. soun, OF. son, sun, F. son, fr. L. sonus akin to Skr. svana sound, svan
to sound, and perh. to E. swan. Cf. Assonant, Consonant, Person, Sonata, Sonnet, Sonorous,
Swan.]
1. The peceived object occasioned by the impulse or vibration of a material substance affecting the
ear; a sensation or perception of the mind received through the ear, and produced by the impulse or
vibration of the air or other medium with which the ear is in contact; the effect of an impression made on
the organs of hearing by an impulse or vibration of the air caused by a collision of bodies, or by other
means; noise; report; as, the sound of a drum; the sound of the human voice; a horrid sound; a charming
sound; a sharp, high, or shrill sound.
The warlike sound
Of trumpets loud and clarions.
Milton. 2. The occasion of sound; the impulse or vibration which would occasion sound to a percipient if present
with unimpaired; hence, the theory of vibrations in elastic media such cause sound; as, a treatise on sound.
In this sense, sounds are spoken of as audible and inaudible.
3. Noise without signification; empty noise; noise and nothing else.
Sense and not sound . . . must be the principle.
Locke. Sound boarding, boards for holding pugging, placed in partitions of under floors in order to deaden
sounds. - - Sound bow, in a series of transverse sections of a bell, that segment against which the
