sounding line

American  

noun

1. a line weighted with a lead or plummet sounding lead and bearing marks to show the length paid out, used for sounding, as at sea.

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sounding line British  

noun

1. a line marked off to indicate its length and having a sounding lead at one end. It is dropped over the side of a vessel to determine the depth of the water

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Etymology

Origin of sounding line

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sounding line

The slight inclination of the low lands of Georgia and Carolina is continued under water till the sounding line attains a depth of about fifty fathoms.

From The Strand Magazine, Volume XXVII, Issue 160, April, 1904 by Various

Then we've got to use a sounding line to find out in which direction the hull of the sunken derelict lies.

From The Submarine Boys' Lightning Cruise The Young Kings of the Deep by Victor G. Durham

A single bleached specimen, agreeing with this description excepting in having five instead of three or four plaits on the columella, was brought up by the sounding line.

From Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 2 by Phillip Parker King

"First time I ever wished I was a Dutchman!" swore Joe Byng, coiling up his sounding line.

From Told in the East by Talbot Mundy

Nevertheless, as the bottom might happen to rise sharply instead of following the slope of the coast, we did not venture to proceed out the sounding line in hand.

From An Antarctic Mystery by Frances Cashel Hoey

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