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Fathom   /fˈæðəm/   Listen
verb
Fathom  v. t.  (past & past part. fathomed; pres. part. fathoming)  
1.
To encompass with the arms extended or encircling; to measure by throwing the arms about; to span. (Obs.)
2.
To measure by a sounding line; especially, to sound the depth of; to penetrate, measure, and comprehend; to get to the bottom of. "The page of life that was spread out before me seemed dull and commonplace, only because I had not fathomed its deeper import."



noun
Fathom  n.  
1.
A measure of length, containing six feet; the space to which a man can extend his arms; used chiefly in measuring cables, cordage, and the depth of navigable water by soundings.
2.
The measure or extant of one's capacity; depth, as of intellect; profundity; reach; penetration. (R.) "Another of his fathom they have none To lead their business."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Fathom" Quotes from Famous Books



... have trouble with the little 'un," said Master Polwhele to his captain. "She don't draw half a fathom more than we do. No good running inside the shoals. And with this wind, she has the ...
— Springhaven - A Tale of the Great War • R. D. Blackmore

... insects; and this is especially true in the tropics. Fortunately, exactly as certain differences too minute for us as yet to explain render some insects deadly to man or domestic animals, while closely allied forms are harmless, so, for other reasons, which also we are not as yet able to fathom, these insects are for the most part strictly limited by geographical and other considerations. The war against what Sir Harry Johnston calls the really material devil, the devil of evil wild nature in the tropics, has been waged with marked success only during the last two ...
— Through the Brazilian Wilderness • Theodore Roosevelt

... while in his mouth he held a jewel as large as a goose's egg, which shone like fire, and which, in the opinion of Sagean, was a carbuncle. Another of these images was that of a woman mounted on a golden unicorn, with a horn more than a fathom long. After passing, pursues the story, between these idols, which stand on platforms of gold, each thirty feet square, one enters a magnificent vestibule, conducting to the apartment of the king. At the four corners of this vestibule are stationed ...
— France and England in North America, a Series of Historical Narratives, Part Third • Francis Parkman

... spoke thus of Alessandro, Felipe marvelled in silence. He himself had been afraid to mention Alessandro's name; but Ramona spoke it as if he were yet by her side. Felipe could not fathom this. There were to be many things yet which Felipe could not fathom in this lovely, sorrowing, sunny ...
— Ramona • Helen Hunt Jackson

... the past, if only now he would return to his allegiance to the Covenant, and accept the Lieutenant-generalship of their projected army under the Earl of Leven? If he had seemed to dally with this temptation, it had only been that he might the better fathom the purposes of the Argyle government, and report all to their Majesties! No service, however eminent, under Argyle, or with any of the crafty crew of the Covenant, was that on which his soul was bent, but a quite contrary enterprise, ...
— The Life of John Milton Vol. 3 1643-1649 • David Masson


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