From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Sound \Sound\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sounded; p. pr. & vb. n.
Sounding.] [F. sonder; cf. AS. sundgyrd a sounding rod,
sundline a sounding line (see Sound a narrow passage of
water).]
1. To measure the depth of; to fathom; especially, to
ascertain the depth of by means of a line and plummet.
[1913 Webster]
2. Fig.: To ascertain, or try to ascertain, the thoughts,
motives, and purposes of (a person); to examine; to try;
to test; to probe.
[1913 Webster]
I was in jest,
And by that offer meant to sound your breast.
--Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
I've sounded my Numidians man by man. --Addison.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Med.) To explore, as the bladder or urethra, with a
sound; to examine with a sound; also, to examine by
auscultation or percussion; as, to sound a patient.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Sounding \Sound"ing\, a.
Making or emitting sound; hence, sonorous; as, sounding
words. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Sounding \Sound"ing\, n.
1. The act of one who, or that which, sounds (in any of the
senses of the several verbs).
[1913 Webster]
2. (Naut.) [From Sound to fathom.]
(a) measurement by sounding; also, the depth so
ascertained.
(b) Any place or part of the ocean, or other water, where
a sounding line will reach the bottom; -- usually in
the plural.
(c) The sand, shells, or the like, that are brought up by
the sounding lead when it has touched bottom.
[1913 Webster]
Sounding lead, the plummet at the end of a sounding line.
Sounding line, a line having a plummet at the end, used in
making soundings.
Sounding post (Mus.), a small post in a violin,
violoncello, or similar instrument, set under the bridge
as a support, for propagating the sounds to the body of
the instrument; -- called also sound post.
Sounding rod (Naut.), a rod used to ascertain the depth of
water in a ship's hold.
In soundings, within the eighty-fathom line. --Ham. Nav.
Encyc.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
sounding
adj 1: appearing to be as specified; usually used as combining
forms; "left their clothes dirty looking"; "a most
disagreeable looking character"; "angry-looking";
"liquid-looking"; "severe-looking policemen on noble
horses"; "fine-sounding phrases"; "taken in by high-
sounding talk" [syn: looking, sounding]
2: having volume or deepness; "sounding brass and a tinkling
cymbal"; "the sounding cataract haunted me like a passion"-
Wordsworth
3: making or having a sound as specified; used as a combining
form; "harsh-sounding"
n 1: a measure of the depth of water taken with a sounding line
2: the act of measuring depth of water (usually with a sounding
line)