FATHOM

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does fathom mean? 

• FATHOM (noun)
  The noun FATHOM has 2 senses:

1. a linear unit of measurement (equal to 6 feet) for water depth

2. (mining) a unit of volume (equal to 6 cubic feet) used in measuring bodies of ore

  Familiarity information: FATHOM used as a noun is rare.

• FATHOM (verb)
  The verb FATHOM has 2 senses:

1. come to understand

2. measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line

  Familiarity information: FATHOM used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FATHOM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A linear unit of measurement (equal to 6 feet) for water depth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

fathom; fthm

Hypernyms ("fathom" is a kind of...):

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

Meronyms (parts of "fathom"):

pace; yard (a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride)

Derivation:

fathom (measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(mining) a unit of volume (equal to 6 cubic feet) used in measuring bodies of ore

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

fathom; fthm

Hypernyms ("fathom" is a kind of...):

capacity measure; capacity unit; cubage unit; cubature unit; cubic content unit; cubic measure; displacement unit; volume unit (a unit of measurement of volume or capacity)

Domain category:

excavation; mining (the act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth)

• FATHOM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fathom    ... he / she / it fathoms   
Past simple: fathomed   
Past participle: fathomed   
-ing form: fathoming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Come to understand

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

bottom; fathom; penetrate

Hypernyms (to "fathom" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 2

Meaning:

Measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

fathom; sound

Hypernyms (to "fathom" is one way to...):

measure; quantify (express as a number or measure or quantity)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fathom (a linear unit of measurement (equal to 6 feet) for water depth)

 Context examples 

Fancying you to have fathomed his secret.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I wish I could fathom his mind.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Another anchor was got ready and dropped in a fathom and a half of water.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

St. John's eyes, though clear enough in a literal sense, in a figurative one were difficult to fathom.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I fathomed the depth of the rascal's whole scheme, and understood why he laid it bare.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his data were insufficient.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All their class held these principles: I supposed, then, they had reasons for holding them such as I could not fathom.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The rest of the arms and powder we dropped overboard in two fathoms and a half of water, so that we could see the bright steel shining far below us in the sun, on the clean, sandy bottom.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend’s subtle powers of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had been called upon to fathom.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now, I was unwilling to put the direction-card on there, lest any of my landlord's family should fathom what I was doing, and detain me; so I said to the young man that I would be glad if he would stop for a minute, when he came to the dead-wall of the King's Bench prison.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)