FATHOM

Fathom

A fathom = 6 feet or 1.8288 metres, is a unit of length in the old imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.

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fathom

Noun

  1. Grasp, envelopment, control.
  2. A measure of length corresponding to the outstretched arms, standardised to six feet, now used mainly for measuring depths in seas or oceans.
  3. Mental reach or scope; penetration; the extent of capacity; depth of thought or contrivance.

Verb

  1. To encircle with outstretched arms, especially to take a measurement; to embrace.
  2. To measure the depth of, take a sounding of.
  3. To get to the bottom of; to manage to comprehend (a problem etc.).
    I can't for the life of me fathom what this means.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: fathom
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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