sounding lead

American

[leed] / lid /

noun

sounding line

sounding lead British

/ lɛd /

noun

a lead weight, usually conical and having a depression in the base for a dab of grease so that, when dropped to the bottom on a sounding line, a sample of sand, gravel, etc, can be retrieved

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A sounding lead, used to measure the sea's depth, was also found.

From Reuters

While he inquired after my health in hypocritically honeyed accents, he constantly kept his two great yellow lion-eyes fixed upon me, and plunged his look into my soul like a sounding lead.

From Project Gutenberg

And it happened that one of those who were throwing in the sounding lead, by chance and without any certain knowledge, put his hand to his mouth and found the water sweet.

From Project Gutenberg

Taking the sounding lead with us, we were soon able to find good fishing grounds.

From Project Gutenberg

The sounding lead is a long slug, something like a 99 window-weight, at the bottom of which is a saucer-shaped hollow.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023