sounding-lead Naut.
[sounding vbl. n.2]
The lead or plummet attached to the sounding-line.
| 1485 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 51 Leede lynes, j; Sounding leeds, j. 1495 Ibid. 193 Sowdyng ledes, ij. 1530 Palsgr. 709/2, I serche the see with a sowndyng leade to knowe howe depe it is. 1584 B. R. tr. Herodotus ii. 76 Which..would not suffer the line with the sounding leade to sinke to the bottome. 1639 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 226 Two compasses, one sounding lead & one barrell of meale. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. 137 Common Navigation requireth the Use of no Instruments but the Compass and Sounding-Lead. 1711 Milit. & Sea Dict. s.v., The Sounding-Lead is as the Deep-Sea-Lead for Sounding; but it is commonly only seven Pounds Weight, and about 12 Inches long. 1802 A. Duncan Marin. Chron. (1805) III. 215 Upon..sounding, the strap of the sounding⁓lead broke; an accident which very rarely happens. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 75 These grounds are found by the use of the sounding-lead. |