Fathom sb.

Forms: 1 fæðm, fædm, 2–4 fedme, 4 feþme, fademe, 3 fadim, (fadum, fathum, south. veðme), 4–5 fadme, 4–6 fadom(e, 5–6 fadam(e, fathem, (Sc. fadowme, fawdom(e, 5 fadmen, fadym, south. vathym, veth(e)ym, 6 faddam, feddom, Sc. faldom, faudom, south. vadome), 6 fatham(e, 6–7 fathome, 7 faddom(e, 7– fathom. [OE. fæðm str. masc. (also fem.) corresponds to OFris. fethm sing., OS. fathmôs pl., the two arms outstretched (Du. vadem, vaam, measure of 6 feet), OHG. fadum cubit (mod.G. faden measure of 6 feet), ON. faþmr (Icel. faðmr, Da. favn, Sw. famn) the outstretched arms, embrace, bosom, also measure of 6 feet:—OTeut. *faþmo-z, cognate with Goth. faþa, MHG. vade enclosure, f. Teut. root feþ-, faþ- :—pre-Teut. pet-, pot-, whence also Gr. πέταλος spreading, broad, πετάννυναι to spread out.

  Formally identical with this word are the MDu. vadem, OHG. fadum, fadam (MHG. vadem, vaden, mod.G. faden), thread; cf. OWelsh etem in same sense. Possibly the two widely divergent senses of the type *faþmo- may be explained as different applications of the etymological sense ‘stretching out.’]

  † 1.  In pl. The embracing arms; in sing. = BOSOM 1 b. OE. only.

a. 1000.  Riddles, xxvii. 25 (Gr.). Freonda þy ma þa … hi lufan fæðmum fæste clyppað.

a. 1000.  Andreas, 825 (Gr.).

  † b.  fig. Grasp, power. Obs.

Beowulf, 1210. Ȝehwearf þa in Francna fæðm feorh cyninges.

a. 1000.  Crist, 1486 (Gr.). Þe ic alysde me feondum of fæðme.

1607.  Middleton, Michaelmas Term, Induction.

1622.  Fletcher, Prophetess, II. i. He beleeves the earth is in his fadom.

  † c.  The object of embrace, the ‘wife of thy bosom.’ Obs. rare^–1.

1602.  Dekker, Satiro-mastix, Wks. 1873, I. 209.

  2.  † a. A stretching of the arms in a straight line to their full extent. Also in to make a fathom.

1519.  Horman, Vulg., 29. The length … fro the both toppys of his myddell fyngers, whan he maketh a vadome.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 717. The first of these hornes … being of the length of my fadome.

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., IV. v. 191. The extent of his fathome … is equall unto the space between the soale of the foot and the crowne.

1785.  Burns, Halloween, xxiii., note. Take an opportunity of going … to a bean-stack, and fathom it three times round. The last fathom of the last time you will catch in your arms the appearance of your future conjugal yoke-fellow.

  b.  fig. Breadth of comprehension, grasp of intellect; ability. Obs. exc. arch.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., I. i. 153. Another of his Fadome, they haue none.

1827.  T. Hamilton, Cyril Thornton (1845), 89. This … is beyond my fathom to determine.

  3.  A measure of length.

  † a.  The length of the forearm; a CUBIT. Obs.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 158/10. Cubitum, Fædm betwux elboȝan and handwyrste. Ibid. (c. 1000), Gen. vi. 15. Þreo hund faþma biþ se arc on lenȝe.

c. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 225. An arc þreo hund fedme lang.

c. 1205.  Lay., 27686. Þat sper þurh ræhte fulle ane ueðme.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 21532 (Gött.).

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 145. Fadme, or fadyme, ulna.

  b.  The length covered by the outstretched arms, including the hands to the tip of the longest finger; hence, a definite measure of 6 feet (formerly for some purposes less: see quot. 1751), now chiefly used in taking soundings.

a. 800.  Corpus Gloss., Passus, faeðm, uel tueȝen stridi.

c. 1300.  K. Alis., 546. His taile was fyve fedme long.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 1393.

c. 1450.  Merlin, 31. This tour is iij or iiij fadom of height.

a. 1490.  Botoner, Itin. (Nasmith, 1778), 175. Arches of x vethym yn hyth.

1496.  Ld. Treas. Accts. Scot. (1877), I. 291. vj fawdome of smal pailȝoune tow, ilk fawdome ij d.

1526.  Tindale, Acts xxvii. 28. The shipmen demed thatt there apered some countre vnto them, and they sounded, and founde it xx. feddoms.

1580.  Baret, Alv., F 199. As big as four men could compasse with their armes, or foure fathom broade.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 396.

1643.  Winthrop, Jrnl. (1790), 325. They … presented the court with twenty-six fathom more of wampom.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. 163/2. The deepness of Water is sounded by Faddoms.

1748.  Anson’s Voy., III. ii. 219. We could not find ground with sixty fathom of line: This was a plain indication, that the anchor lay near the edge.

1751.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. There are three kinds of Fathoms, accommodated to the different Ranks of Vessels. The first, which is that of Men of War, contains six Feet: The middling, or that of Merchant Ships, five Feet, and a half; and the small one, used in Fluyts, Flyboats, and other Fishing-vessels, only five Feet.

1814.  Scott, Ld. of Isles, III. xx. ‘Where lies your bark?’ ‘Ten fathom deep in ocean dark!’

1865.  Livingstone, Zambesi, ix. 197. We thanked him, and handed him two fathoms of cotton cloth, four times the market-value of his present.

1878.  Huxley, Physiography, 176. The Gulf Stream itself is not more than 100 fathoms deep.

  † c.  (See quots.; perh. some error.) Obs.

1692–1708.  Coles, Fathom, three Feet in length.

1751.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Fathom is also us’d in several Countries, particularly Italy, for the common Yard or Ell, whereby Things are ordinarily measur’d, in Commerce.

  d.  in pl. Depths. lit. and fig. Also in fig. expressions Fathoms deep, fathoms down; cf. 6.

1608.  Middleton, Trick to Catch Old One, III. i.

1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 502.

1880.  Miss Braddon, Just as I am, xviii. You will sink fathoms deep in my respect.

  4.  Mining (see quot. 1881).

1778.  W. Pryce, Min. Cornub. Gloss., 321/1. All work in the Cornish Mines, is generally performed by the fathom; such as stopiong, driving, and sinking.

1872.  Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 315. [Cost of] stoping $12 or $18 per fathom [of ore]. Ibid. (1881), Mining Gloss., A fathom of mining ground is six feet square by the whole thickness of the vein.

  5.  A certain quantity of wood; now, a quantity 6 ft. square in section, whatever the length may be.

1577.  Harrison, England, II. xxii. (1877), I. 340. Our tanners buie the barke … by the fadame.

1669.  J. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 317. A Fathom of Wood is a parcel of Wood set out, six whereof make a Coal Fire.

1681.  Blount, Glossogr., When a Ship is past service they saw the wood of it in length, and sell it by the fathom, which is six foot, two broad, and six high.

1835.  Tariff Tables, in M’Culloch, Dict. Commerce, 1133. Lathwood in pieces under 5 feet in length, per fathom, 6 feet wide and 6 feet high [duty] £4 5s. 0d.; 12 feet long or upwards, per fathom, 6 feet wide and 6 feet high, £13 12s. 0d.

1875.  T. Laslett, Timber & Timber Trees, 252. 18000 fathoms of firewood were imported into London in 1874.

  6.  attrib. and Comb., as fathom lot; fathom-deep a. = fathoms deep (see 3 d), excessively deep; fathom health, a health (drunk) fathoms deep (see prec.); fathom line, the line used in testing the depth of the sea in fathoms; also fig.; fathom-proof (nonce-wd.), unfathomable; fathom-tale (Mining), a fixed sum for every fathom excavated; fathom-wood [cf. Sw. famnved, Ger. fadenhotz] (see quot. 1867).

1835.  Edin. Rev., April, 75. *Fathom-deep in murders and debaucheries.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., x. 18.

1600.  Dekker, Gentle Craft, Wks. 1873, I. 71. Carowse mee *fadome healths to the honour of the shoomakers.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. iii. 200.

1816.  Byron, Pr. of Chilton, vi.

1821.  Shelley, Epipsych., 88.

1792.  Elizabeth Percy, I. 91. As if he thought what passed, a smooth surface, but not *fathom-proof.

1881.  Raymond, Mining Gloss., *Fathom-tale … probably arises from the payment for such work by the space excavated, and not by the ore produced.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Fathom-wood, slab and other offal of timber, sold at the yards, by fathom lots.