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

Example Sentences

That important feature, the depth of the sea, is obtained by the ordinary sounding line or wire; all soundings are reduced to low water of ordinary spring tides.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 8 "Chariot" to "Chatelaine" by Various

Creature so heavenly fair, May any mortal genius dare, Or less than tongue divine, To praise in lofty, rare, and sounding line?

From The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes by Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de

Shorten your sails, said the pilot; fetch the sounding line; we must double that point of land, and mind the sands.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 4 by Motteux, Peter Anthony

The buoy to which the sounding line had been lashed had not yet been recognized.

From From the Earth to the Moon; and, Round the Moon by Verne, Jules

All accumulated dissatisfactions, weariness of the world, ennui, vague disgust, a multitude of suppressed desires gush forth, like subterranean waters, under the sounding line that for the first time brings them to light.

From The Ancient Regime by Durand, John