fathom
/ˈfæðəm/ noun C2- A man's armspan, generally reckoned to be six feet (about 1.8 metres). Later used to measure the depth of water, but now generally replaced by the metre outside American usage.
- An internationally standardized version of this unit, the international fathom (= 1.8288 metres = 6 feet).
- A measure of distance to shore: the nearest point to shore at which the water depth is the value quoted. · After we'd rowed for an hour, we found ourselves stranded ten fathoms from shore.
- An unspecified depth.
Plural fathoms
From the library
The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thoughts.
“You shall pass it by twenty fathoms.”
“Belay.” This order was also executed; and the vessel passed, as Dantès had predicted, twenty fathoms to windward.
Two broke, from the heat of the fire; the other ten were sunk three hundred fathoms deep into the sea.
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