fathom – English noun declension

English noun forms of fathom

Noun: fathom
Singularfathom
Pluralfathoms

Sample Sentences

  • [T]he ſhipmen deemed that they drew neere to ſome countrey: And ſounded, and found it twentie fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they ſounded againe, and found it fifteene fathoms. [1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 27:27–28, column 2:]
  • Full fadom fiue thy Father lies,
  • Of his bones are Corrall made:
  • Those are pearles that were his eies,
  • Nothing of him that doth fade,
  • But doth suffer a Sea-change
  • Into someting rich, & strange [1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 5, column 1:]
  • And then they told me that a good many years ago, when the speakers were boys, some Wokan men who were out fishing met these lost people in the sea, and spoke to them; and the chief gave the Wokan men a hundred fathoms of cloth to bring to the men of Wanumbai, to show that they were alive and would soon come back to them[.] [1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 262:]
  • After we'd rowed for an hour, we found ourselves stranded ten fathoms from shore.
  • At fifty fathoms, the waters of the Southern Ocean are dark blue. [1983, Richard Ellis, “The Predators”, in The Book of Sharks, 1st paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 1989, →ISBN, page 7:]
  • Another of his fathome they haue not / To leade their buſineſſe, […] [c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:]
  • Thy Bride, thy choice, thy vvife, / She that is novv thy fadom, […] Kneele at thy feete, obay in euerie thing, / So euerie Father is a priuate King. [1601 (first performance), Thomas Dekker, Satiro-mastix. Or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet. […], London: […] [Edward Allde] for Edward White, […], published 1602, →OCLC, signature E, verso:]
  • So; novv knovv I vvhere I am, me thinkes already / I graſpe beſt part of the Autumnian bleſſing / In my contentious fadome, […] [1604 (first performance), [Thomas Middleton], “Inductio”, in Michaelmas Terme. […], London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Edward Allde] for A[rthur] I[ohnson] […], published 1607, →OCLC, signature A2, recto:]
  • Yes: / you have blovvne his ſvvolne pride to that vaſtnes, / as he beleeves the earth is in his fadom, / this makes him qute forget his humble Being: […] [1622 May 24 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Prophetesse”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 29:]

Etymology

1. From Middle English fathome, fadom, fadme (“unit of length of about six feet; depth of six feet for nautical soundings; (loosely) cubit; ell”) [and other forms], from Old English fæþm, fæþme (“encircling or outstretched arms, bosom, embrace; envelopment; control, grasp, power; fathom (unit of measurement); cubit”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *faþm (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”), from Proto-Germanic *faþmaz (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”), from Proto-Indo-European *pet-, *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”).
2. Cognates
3. * Ancient Greek πέταλος (pétalos, “broad; flat”), πετᾰ́ννῡμῐ (petắnnūmĭ, “to open; to spread out; to be dispersed or scattered”) (whence English petal)
4. * Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌸𐌰 (faþa, “fench; hedge”)
5. * Latin pateō (“to extend, increase; to be accessible, attainable, open; to be exposed, vulnerable”)
6. * Low German fadem, faem (“cubit; thread”)
7. * Middle Dutch vadem (modern Dutch vaam, vadem (“fathom”))
8. * Norwegian Bokmål favn (“an embrace; a fathom”)
9. * Old Frisian fethm (“outstretched arms”)
10. * Old High German fadam, fadum (“cubit”) (Middle High German vade (“enclosure”), vadem, vaden, modern German Faden (“fathom; filament, thread”))
11. * Old Norse faþmr (Danish favn (“an embrace; a fathom”), Icelandic faðmur (“an embrace”), Swedish famn (“the arms, bosom; an embrace”))
12. * Old Welsh etem (“thread”) See: Middle English Nouns 'fathome', Old English Nouns 'fæþm', Gothic Nouns '𐍆𐌰𐌸𐌰', Latin Nouns 'pateō', Norwegian Bokmål Nouns 'favn', German Nouns 'Faden', Old Norse Nouns 'faþmr', Danish Nouns 'favn', Icelandic Nouns 'faðmur', Swedish Nouns 'famn'.

Verbs referencing "fathom"

English Nouns petal, Latin Nouns passus, Norwegian Nynorsk Nouns famn.