fathom

n. (Abbr. fth. or fm.)
A unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.83 meters), used principally in the measurement and specification of marine depths.

tr.v., -omed, -om·ing, -oms.

1. To penetrate to the meaning or nature of; comprehend.
2. To determine the depth of; sound.

[Middle English fathme, from Old English fæthm, outstretched arms.]

fathomable fath'om·a·ble adj.

verb

1. To perceive and recognize the meaning of: accept, apprehend, catch (on), compass, comprehend, conceive, follow, get, grasp, make out, read, see, sense, take, take in, understand. Informal savvy. Slang dig. Chiefly British twig. Scots ken. Idioms: gethavea handle on, get the picture. See understand/misunderstand.
2. To perceive directly with the intellect: apprehend, compass, comprehend, grasp, know, understand. Scots ken. See knowledge/ignorance.

v

Definition: discern, understand
Antonyms: misunderstand, not get

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n. a unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.8 meters), chiefly used in reference to the depth of water: sonar says that we're in 18 fathoms.

Etymology: Old English fæthm, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vadem, vaam and German Faden ‘six feet.’ The original sense was ‘something which embraces, ’ (plural) ‘the outstretched arms;’ hence, a unit of measurement based on the span of the outstretched arms, later standardized to 6 feet.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

length Originally a body measure, being the distance spanned finger-tip to finger-tip by the outstretched arms and hands.

British/American Usually, and distinctively as the warship fathom, 6 ft (1.828 8 m, 72 in), but sometimes = ¹/₁₀₀ cable's length. Despite the long history of being 6 feet, the fathom had other meanings even in 19th-century England, being traditionally 5.5 ft (1.676 4 m, 65 in) on merchant ships and both 5 ft (1.524 m, 60 in) and 7 ft (2.136 6 m, 84 in) on fishing vessels. See inch for precise sizing.

History

A ‘fathom’ was used in ancient Egypt, then in ancient Greece, but lost place to the 5-foot pace in Roman practice. As a natural body measure it would have been fairly close to 6 ft or 1.8 m. By chance, such a size produces a figure of a little over 1 000 fathoms for the geographic mile, i.e. the distance between two points on a meridian separated by 1 minute of latitude. The actual value of this distance is very close to the modern standard for the international nautical mile (INM), of 1852 m (6076.~ ft), so about 1 013 BI fathoms. The French, measuring Earth in the 1790s to establish the size of the metre, used their fathom (the toise) as their measuring stick.

To convert from fathoms to:

meter, multiply by 1.828804.
feet, multiply by 6.

Convert:  Into:  meter feet

Result:

A unit of measurement which is essentially the distance between the fingers of outstreached arms. Originally "faedm" an Anglo Saxon word meaning hug or embrace, fadems were marked on a rope by a knot so that when thrown overboard attached to an anchor a sailor would count off the knots or fathoms to the bottom.
(Source: "Salty Talk", Naval History, U. S. Naval Institute, October 2002)

IN BRIEF: A measure of length equal to 6 feet. Also: to come to understand.

I cannot fathom the meaning of the clues in the poem.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - favn
v. tr. - favne op, lodde, udgrunde

idioms:

• fathom out    regne ud

Nederlands (Dutch)
doorgronden, peilen, vadem (1, 83 meter), begrip, stuk hout van 1, 83m2 doorsnee

Français (French)
n. - (Naut) brasse anglaise (= 1.83 m)
v. tr. - (Naut) sonder

idioms:

• fathom out    comprendre

Deutsch (German)
v. - verstehen, sondieren
n. - Faden

idioms:

• fathom out    verstehen

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - (ναυτ.) βυθομετρώ, βολιδοσκοπώ, (μτφ.) εμβαθύνω, μπαίνω στο νόημα
n. - (ναυτ.) οργιά

idioms:

• fathom out    βολιδοσκοπώ

Italiano (Italian)
penetrare, sondare, andare a fondo, capire bene

idioms:

• fathom out    riuscire a capire

Português (Portuguese)
v. - compreender, profundar
n. - braça (f) (unidade de medida)

idioms:

• fathom out    compreender

Русский (Russian)
измерять глубину, морская сажень

idioms:

• fathom out    понимать, догадываться

Español (Spanish)
n. - braza
v. tr. - calar, penetrar, profundizar, comprender, medir utilizando la braza

idioms:

• fathom out    averiguar, comprobar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - utgrunda, mäta djupet av
n. - famn

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
深度单位, 寻, 测量深度, 彻底了解, 看穿

idioms:

• fathom out    计算出

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 深度單位, 噚
v. tr. - 測量深度, 徹底瞭解, 看穿

idioms:

• fathom out    計算出

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (단위) 두 팔을 벌린 (6피트 정도), (상식, 학습 등의) 심도
v. tr. - (수심) 재다, 추측하다

idioms:

• fathom out    이해 할 수 있다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 尋, ファゾム, 理解
v. - 推測する, 水深を測る, 探りを入れる

idioms:

• fathom out    探り出す

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يسبر غور , يقيس (الاسم) مقياس, لعمق الماء‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮פאתום (כשני מטר)‬
v. tr. - ‮הבין, ירד לעומק, מדד עומק של מים‬

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