Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

FATHOM

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 202 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

FATHOM (a word See also:

common, in various forms, to Scandinavian and See also:Teutonic See also:languages; cf. Danish faun, Dutch vaam and Ger. Faden, and meaning " the arms extended "; the ultimate origin is a See also:root pet, seen in the Gr. sreraevbeat, to spread), a measure of length, being the distance from the tip of one See also:middle See also:finger to the tip of the other, when the arms are stretched out to their widest extent. This length has been standardized to a measure of 6 ft., and as such is used mainly in soundings as a unit for measuring the See also:depth of the See also:sea. " Fathom " is also used in the measurement of See also:timber, when it is See also:equivalent to 6 it. sq.; similarly, in See also:mining, a fathom is a portion of ground See also:running the whole thickness of the vein of ore, and is 6 ft. in breadth and thickness. The verb " to fathom," i.e. to See also:sound or measure with a fathom-See also:line, is used figuratively, meaning to go into a subject deeply, to penetrate, or to explore thoroughly. See J. J. See also:Blunt, Right Use of the. Fathers, p. 15 if. See See also:Stanton, See also:Place of Authority in See also:Religion, p.

165 f. Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Griechischen christlichen Schriftsteliern der ersten drei Jahrhunderte.

End of Article: FATHOM

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH 		[next]
FATIMITES

Site © 2006 - Net Industries