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

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

“That is easily seen,” answered the sailor, taking the sounding line, which measured fifty fathoms, and letting it down.

From The Mysterious Island by White, Stephen W.

In fact, nothing delayed immediate departure but the consideration that two miles of sounding line were still to be hauled up from the ocean depths.

From All Around the Moon by Roth, Edward

The lieutenant wanted two men to keep it out in the current while he used the sounding line and recorded results.

From Overland by De Forest, J. W. (John William)

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 King, Phillip Parker