sounding lead
Americannoun
noun
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 ● Sep. 20, 2016
Some SO miles from the coast of Japan, the Nipponese man-of-war Manchu dropped its sounding lead.
From Time Magazine Archive
Her superstructure swept away, she had gone down like a sounding lead in deep water.
From Time Magazine Archive
The same day we explored the entrance to the river, where large vessels can approach; but there are inside some reefs, to avoid which one must advance with sounding lead in hand.
From Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 02 by Otis, Charles P. (Charles Pomeroy)
"Sir, at this moment we have 3,508 fathoms of line out, and the ball which draws the sounding lead has not yet touched the bottom; for if so, it would have come up of itself."
From From the Earth to the Moon; and, Round the Moon by Verne, Jules
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
