I. ˈsau̇nd adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English sound, sund, from Old English ge sund; akin to Old Saxon gi sund sound, Old Frisian sund fresh, unharmed, healthy, Old High German gi sunt healthy, Gothic swinths strong, healthy and probably to Lithuanian sumdyti, siumdyti to rouse, incite
1.
a. : free from injury or disease : robust , wholesome
a young man … of good parentage, sound in wind and limb — Henry Miller
every tooth in her head was sound — W.M.Thackeray
a sound mind in a sound body
b. : free from disease, abnormality, or defect impairing or likely to impair usefulness — used of a domestic animal and especially of a horse; compare unsound
c. : free from flaw, defect, or decay : unimpaired , unblemished
sound timber
a sound wine
a sound wall
sound fruit
the masonry … is still sound — American Guide Series: North Carolina
2.
a. : marked by solidity, firmness, or stability
a building of sound construction
established a sound foundation for future progress
b. : stable and resistant to volume change when used in construction work — used of hydraulic cements including portland, hydrated lime, quicklime, and aggregates for concrete
c. : solidly or securely based : reliable
a sound economy
a sound society
sound relationships
d. : financially secure : safe
a sound investment
3.
a. : based on truth or right : free from error or fallacy
sound advice
a sound argument
sound reasoning
sound criticism
b. : based on adequate knowledge or experience : correct
sound estimate of the military situation — Carl Bridenbaugh
c. : showing a high level of accuracy or polish : precise
sound scholarship
paved the way for … sound and fruitful knowledge of antiquity — G.C.Sellery
a sound paragraph — L.B.Nicolson
d. chess : admitting of no variation advantageous to the opponent — used of a problem or combination
e. : founded in law : not defective : legal , valid
a sound title to land
f. : agreeing with accepted views : orthodox
sound in the faith
preached sound doctrine
4.
a. : complete , thorough
a sound revenge
a sound recovery
b. : deep and undisturbed — used of sleep
a sound sleep
c. : hard , severe
a sound whipping
5.
a. : marked by loyalty and dependability : trustworthy
a sound friend
his shipmates pronounced him sound to the kelson — Herman Melville
b. : showing high morale : not disaffected
a robust and sound people — Matthew Arnold
c. : showing good judgment : level-headed
a sound man to have on a governing board
Synonyms: see healthy , valid
II. adverb
Etymology: Middle English, from sound (I)
: soundly — used with asleep and sleep and in combination
sound asleep
slept sound
sound -thinking citizens
III. noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English soun, from Old French son, from Latin sonus; akin to Old English swinn melody, Old Irish senim sounds, playing, Old Latin sonere to sound, Sanskrit svanati it sounds, resounds
1.
a. : the sensation perceived by the sense of hearing
the pattern of nerve impulses arriving in the brain is associated with and subjectively experienced as sound — Otto Stuhlman
b. : an auditory impression : noise , tone
the sound of thunder
sounds of laughter
the sound of girls' voices — Pearl Buck
from the passageway … the sound of footsteps — Kenneth Roberts
c. : mechanical radiant energy that is transmitted by longitudinal pressure waves in air or other material medium and is the objective cause of the sensation of hearing
the velocity of sound in air at 32° F is about 1087 feet per second
2.
a. : a speech sound
a peculiar r-sound
an ȯ- sound
b. : value in terms of a single speech sound or a succession of speech sounds
Polish prz has pretty much the sound of bsch in German hübsch — psh
3. archaic : rumor , tidings
the preachers … spread the glorious sound — William Cowper
4.
a. : noise without meaning : mere noise
full of sound and fury, signifying nothing — Shakespeare
systems which … deal in sounds instead of sense — Jeremy Bentham
b. obsolete : underlying meaning : significance
the word has no sound , as I may say, to me — Daniel Defoe
c. : the mental impression conveyed by a particular sound or expression : an accompanying implication : import , portent
that confession has a suspicious sound to me
5. : distance within which a particular noise may be heard : earshot , hearing
within sound of his voice
the lad was out of sight and out of sound — S.H.Holbrook
6. : recorded auditory material (as on phonograph discs or motion-picture film)
stereophonic sound
with sound there came … the need of good writing — Irving Pichel
7. : a particular musical style characteristic of an individual, a group, or an area
the Nashville sound
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English sounen, from Middle French soner, suner, from Latin sonare; akin to Latin sonus sound
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to make a noise or sound (as with the voice or with an instrument) : produce an audible effect
first taught speaking trumpets how to sound — John Dryden
a buzzing noise kept sounding in his ears
b. : resound
sounding to strains of soft music
the echoes of his clever talk were still sounding — V.L.Parrington
c. : to give a signal by sound : summon — used with to
the bugle sounds to battle
d. archaic : to become known by word of mouth
from you sounded out the word of the Lord — 1 Thess 1:8 (Authorized Version)
2.
a. : to make or convey a certain impression : have a certain import when heard : seem , appear
sounds good to me
the whole thing sounded incredible — Burtt Evans
b. obsolete : tend , lean , incline
sound neither to matters of state nor of war — George Puttenham
c. : to become based or founded — used with in
those remedies for rent which sounded in contract — O.W.Holmes †1935
sound in tort
sound in damages
motives sounding in the need of divine salvation — H.O.Taylor
d. : to have or tend to have the character of a specified thing — usually used with in
sound in folly
transitive verb
1.
a. : to cause to sound (as a musical instrument) : play , strike
sounding the gong for breakfast
hear each instrumentalist sound his A — Warwick Braithwaite
b. : to produce the sound of : pronounce
sound each syllable carefully
sound the keynote
2. : to put into words : voice
how dares thy … tongue sound this unpleasing news — Shakespeare
encomiums are being sounded — A.H.MacCormick
3.
a. : to make known : proclaim
sound his praises far and wide
sounded its purpose of enforcing its new regulations — Fred Russell
b. : to order, signal, or indicate by a sound
sound retreat
sound a parley
the clock sounds noon
4. : to examine the condition of (something) by causing it to emit sounds and noting their character
sound a piece of timber
sound the lungs
V. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English sund swimming, capacity for swimming, strait, sea & Old Norse sund swimming, strait, sound; akin to Middle Low German sunt narrow sea, strait, Old High German swimman to swim — more at swim
1.
a. : a long and rather broad inlet of the ocean generally with its larger part extending roughly parallel to the coast
b. : a long passage of water connecting two larger bodies but too wide and extensive to be termed a strait (as a passage connecting a sea or lake with the ocean or with another sea or a channel passing between a mainland and an island)
2. : the air bladder of a fish
VI. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English sounden, from Middle French sonder, from sonde sounding line, act of sounding, probably of Germanic origin; akin to Old English sund gyrd sounding rod, sund līne sounding line, sund rāp sounding lead, Old Norse sund strait, sound
transitive verb
1. : to measure the depth of (as by a line and plummet) : fathom
the crew must often sound the bottom to be sure of enough water — Lyn Harrington
sounding the distance to the bottom and to the ice overhead — W.R.Anderson & Clay Blair
— see echo sounding
2. : to try to find out (as by discreet questioning) the views or intentions of : feel out : probe
sounding various senators as to their willingness to support him — Robert Graves
— often used with out
sound him out on the idea
sounded out the old folks about marrying her — Seumas O'Kelly
3. : to explore or examine (a body cavity, as the bladder or urethra) with a sound
4. : to remove the sound and other organs from (fish)
5. : to carry down (the towline of a boat) when sounding — used of a whale
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to ascertain the depth of water especially with a sounding line
there was fog … they crept in, sounding — Christian Science Monitor
b. : to look into or investigate the possibility : put out feelers
sent commissioners … to sound for peace — Thomas Jefferson
c. of a lead : to go down
deeper than did ever plummet sound I'll drown my book — Shakespeare
2. : to dive suddenly straight toward the bottom — used of a fish and of a whale, especially when hooked or harpooned
get to the spot before the whale gathered its wits sufficiently to sound — R.B.Robertson
•
- sound the well
VII. noun
( -s )
Etymology: obsolete sound sounding line, act of sounding, from Middle French sonde
: an elongated instrument or probe by which cavities of the body are sounded or explored for foreign bodies, constriction, or other abnormal conditions (as in the esophagus, urethra, uterus)
VIII. ˈsün(d)
dialect Britain
variant of swoon