depth
(dɛpθ)
[In Wyclif depthe; not found in OE. or earlier ME.: cf. ON. d{yacu}pt (d{yacu}pð), corresp. to Goth. diupiþa depth, f. diup-, ON. dj{uacu}p-, = OE. déop deep. But the formation might be English after length, etc.: cf. the similarly late breadth, and see -th1 suffix.]
I. The quality of being deep.
1. a. Measurement or distance from the top downwards (or from the surface inwards); also fig.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 90 Geometrie, through which a man hath the sleight Of length, of brede, of depth, of height. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle v. xiv. (1483) 107 Alle these thre dymensions..that is to seye lengthe, brede and depthe. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 98 Trenches of a cubite in depth and breath. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. vii. 104 To find out the absolute depth of the Sea. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 235 Filling a Glass of some depth half full with it. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. v. (1813) 64 The proper depth at which seed is to be sown. 1858 Lardner Handbk. Nat. Phil. 98 It will be..necessary to find the depths at given intervals..from bank to bank. Mod. The arrow penetrated to a considerable depth. |
b. Measurement from front to back or inward from the outer part;
spec. (
Mil.) the distance from front to rear of a body of soldiers as measured by the number of ranks.
| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 229 Whatsoever Length his Green-house be, the Depth should not much exceed twelve or thirteen feet. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 549 Serried Shields in thick array Of depth immeasurable. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 127 What width and depth soever you intend your Rooms shall have. 1760–72 tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. (ed. 3) I. 157 It is furbeloed with a richer stuff, near half a yard in depth. 1832 Regul. Instr. Cavalry iii. 46 Depth, distance from front to rear. |
2. The quality of being deep, or of considerable extension or distance downwards, or inwards.
| 1526 Tindale Matt. xiii. 5 Because it had no depth of erth [Wyclif, Cranmer, depnesse]. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 399 Requires a depth of Lodging in the Ground. 1822 Scott Nigel xvii, The frequency, strength, and depth of his potations. Mod. The depth of the snow prevented our passage. We could not reach it from its depth beneath the surface. |
3. fig. a. Of subjects of thought: Profundity, abstruseness.
| c 1590 Marlowe Faustus i, Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess. 1605 Bp. Hall Medit. & Vows ii. §53 The humility of those great and profound wits, whom depth of knowledge hath not led to bypaths in judgement. 1613 Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 57 A great part of the depth and learning of the Law. 1850 M{supc}Cosh Div. Govt. iv. ii. (1874) 490 There is a great depth of meaning in the saying. |
b. Of persons, or their mental faculties or actions: Profundity, penetration, sagacity.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn i. iv. §2 (1873) 29 Life of invention, or depth of judgement. 1711 Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) III. 108 A Man of extraordinary Depth. 1781 Cowper Charity 392 He talks of light, and the prismatic hues, As men of depth in erudition use. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 86 If it is often necessary to condemn him for superficiality, this lack of depth seldom..proceeds from painstaking. |
c. in depth, profoundly; with deep insight or penetration. Hence (hyphenated) as an
attrib. phr.| 1959 B. C. Brookes in R. Quirk et al. Teaching of English v. 148 It takes the scientist perhaps twenty or thirty years to reach..that mature grasp of his subject which enables him to see it clearly both in depth and in relation to other disciplines. 1959 Listener 9 July 69/2 Dr. Waidson presumably had the choice of writing in depth about a few novelists or of skimming over as many authors as he could get into his survey. 1966 Punch 19 Jan. 83/3 Why haven't you asked my views on Sport? Not quite interviewing me in depth are you, Mr. Haverwood? 1967 Electronics XL. 35 (Advt.), He's backed by General Electric's total electronic capability—in-depth technical backup assistance. 1971 Guardian 20 Feb. 9/6 What I do is history plus reportage, an in-depth extension of my former journalism. |
4. Of feelings, moral qualities, or states: Intensity, profundity.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. v. i. 141 To sound the depth of this knauerie. 1598 Drayton Heroic. Ep. xxiii. 23 The depth of Woe with words we hardly sound. 1640 H. Glapthorne Lady's Priv. iv. i, This cruelty exceeds The depth of tyranny. 1738 Wesley Ps. & Hymns (1765) cxxxvii, The Depth of sympathetic Woe! 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xiii. 303 Tostig alone did not stick at this depth of treason. |
5. Of physical qualities or conditions, as silence, darkness, colour: Intensity.
depth of field,
depth of focus: see
field n. 16 c,
focus n. 2 e.
| 1624 Davenport City Nt.-Cap 111, In depth of silence, you shall confess. c 1820 S. Rogers Italy (1830) 132 Cedar and cypress threw Singly their depth of shadow. 1873 Tyndall Lect. on Light iv. 157 A splendid azure, which..reaches a maximum of depth and purity, and then..passes into whitish blue. |
6. Logic. The sum of the attributes contained in a concept;
= comprehension 4.
| 1864 Bowen Logic iv. 67 This distinction of Quantity has been expressed by Logicians in various ways..A Logical or Universal whole has Extension, Breadth, Sphere..A Metaphysical or Formal whole has Intension, Depth, Comprehension. |
II. Something that is deep.
7. a. A deep water; a deep part of the sea, or of any body of water. Usually in
pl.; now only
poetic and
rhetorical.
| 1382 Wyclif Ex. xv. 5 The depe watris couerden hem; thei descendiden into the depthe as a stoon. 1388 ― Ps. cxlviii. 7 Herie ȝe the Lord; dragouns, and alle depthis of watris [1382 depnessis]. c 1400 Prymer 67 Depþe clepiþ depþe, in þe vois of þi wyndowis. 1580 Sidney Psalms xviii. 5 Ev'n from the waters depth, my God preserv'd me soe. 1611 Bible Ex. xv. 5 The depths haue couered them. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague ii. iv. 152 But I have gazed with adoration Upon its awful depths profoundly calm. 1820 Shelley Cloud 24 In the depths of the purple sea. |
† b. The great abyss of waters; the
deep.
Obs.| 1382 Wyclif Isa li. 10 Whether not thou driedist the se, water of the huge depthe. 1611 Bible Prov. viii. 27 When he set a compasse vpon the face of the depth. |
8. A deep place in the earth, etc.; a deep pit, cavity, or valley (
obs.);
pl. the deep or lowest part of a pit, cavity, etc. (
rhet.).
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xviii. 20 Thus rode forthe all that daye, the yonge kyng of Inglande, by mountaignes and deptis. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 690 Ev'n from the depths of Hell the Damn'd advance. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xv, Miss Ophelia, suddenly rising from the depths of the large arm-chair. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 4 A demon from the depths of the pit. |
9. A vast or unfathomable space, an abyss; the deep or remote part (
of space, the air, the sky, etc.). Usually in
pl. (
poet. and
rhet.)
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage i. ii. 6 An Earth without forme, and void, a darkened depth and waters. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 678 The Depths of Heav'n above, and Earth below. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 420 ¶3 Those unfathomable Depths of æther. 1849 Longfellow Kavanagh v. 32 Measureless depths of air around. 1883 Proctor Myst. Time & Space 57 With Briarean arms science thrust back the stars into the depths of space. |
10. The inner part far from the surface or outside. Also in
pl.| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 60 (MS. B) Brennynge of hote eyren to þe depþe of the wounde ys most proffytable. Ibid. 91 If þat a festre perse..into depþe it is an imperfiȝt cure. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 101 Some safer world, in depth of woods embrac'd. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 254 In the depth of those remote and solitary forests. 1820 Shelley Homer's Hymn to Merc. xxxi, The sacred wood, Which from the inmost depths of its green glen Echoes the voice of Neptune. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid i. 311 Compassed with trees of the forest and depths of shuddering shade. |
11. The middle (of winter, of night), when the cold, stillness, or darkness is most intense.
| 1605 Chapman Al Fooles i. ii, You meet by stealth In depth of midnight. 1618 Bolton Florus (1636) 273 Though it were the depth of Winter. a 1764 Lloyd Poems, New-River Head, Nor finish till the depth of night. 1863 F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 19 In full leaf and beauty in the very depth of winter. |
12. fig. a. A deep (
i.e. secret, mysterious, unfathomable, etc.) region of thought, feeling, or being; the inmost, remotest, or extreme part. Now often in
pl.| 1382 Wyclif Ps. cxxix. 1 Fro depthis I criede to thee, Lord. 1540 Coverdale Fruitf. Less. v. Wks. 1844 I. 409 God's word is even as a two-edged sword, and entereth through to the depth. c 1592 Marlowe Mass. Paris i. viii, Having a smack in all, And yet didst never sound anything to the depth. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iv. 104, I was come to the whole depth of my tale. 1665 J. Spencer Vulg. Prophecies 96 Not a cloudy expression drops from them but it is christned a depth and a great mystery. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab vi. 187 From the depths of unrecorded time. 1874 Helps Soc. Press. iii. 54 Imagine that there were no such depths of degradation. |
b. Applied
attrib. to an interview, approach, etc., that seeks to discover motives or attitudes that are not normally divulged, the results of which are used
esp. as a basis for certain advertising techniques.
Cf. depth psychology (see sense IV).
| 1948 Jrnl. Appl. Psychol. Oct. 550 To orient ourselves to the problem and sketch in its broad outlines we began with a series of a hundred ‘depth interviews’ of television families. 1957 Bookseller 28 Sept. 1216/3 No real harm can be done if, using the results brought to the surface of the human subconscious and unconscious mind by the ‘depth diggers’, one astute manufacturer sells more of a commodity than a rival marketing a brand of equal quality and price. 1957 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Nov. 661/2 Space-salesmen have now become students of the sub-conscious mind, and advertisements are governed by the ‘depth-approach’. 1970 Guardian 10 Apr. 7/3 Skilled depth-interviewers. |
III. 13. Phr.
beyond or out of one's depth:
lit. in water too deep for one to reach the bottom without sinking;
fig. beyond one's understanding or capacities.
| 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 361, I haue ventur'd Like little wanton Boyes that swim on bladders..in a Sea of Glory, But farre beyond my depth. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 50 Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 403 ¶7 Finding them going out of my Depth I passed forward. 1892 Pall Mall G. 19 Jan. 4/3 He remained three hours in the water, afraid to move, lest he should get out of his depth. |
IV. Comb. depth bomb,
charge, a bomb capable of exploding under water; so
depth-charge v. trans., to attack with depth charges;
depth finder, an apparatus for sounding the sea;
spec. sonic depth finder, one in which the measurement is made by timing the echoes from the sea-bottom of sound waves transmitted from the ship;
depth-gauge, a gauge used to measure the depth of holes;
depth-keeping ppl. a. and vbl. n., the maintenance of a submarine, fishing-net, etc., at a certain depth;
depth psychologist, one who practises or is skilled in depth psychology;
depth psychology [
tr. G.
tiefenpsychologie (S. Freud
Das Ich und das Es (1923) i. 17)]
= psycho-analysis b; hence
depth-psychological adj.;
depth recorder, a device for recording either how far below the surface of the sea it is or the depth of water below a vessel; so
depth-recording vbl. n.;
depth-wise adv., in the way or direction of depth.
| 1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms s.v., Submarines..are pursued and destroyed by dropping depth bombs from the observing aircraft or warship. 1944 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLVIII. 219 Depth Bombs (D.B.)..have a very thin case and are detonated by hydrostatic fuse. |
| 1917 War Illustr. 18 Dec. 361 Telegraph to seamen..who prepare to drop Depth Charges to destroy U-boat. 1920 Blackw. Mag. Mar. 315/2 The depth-charge thrower, which later came into common use..was as yet far from perfection. 1928 C. F. S. Gamble N. Sea Air Station 14 Lieutenant Williamson..described how depth-charges (he said ‘bombs exploding 20 feet under the surface of the water’) might possibly be used to destroy submarines. |
| 1918 Daily Mail 23 Sept. 2/4 From the captain of a U-boat..came to me the following description of what it is like to be depth-charged. 1940 War Illustr. 19 Jan. 628/3 That would find the submarine for us—and then we could depth-charge it. |
| 1923 Hydrographic Rev. I. 72 Navy sonic depth finder recently developed at the Engineering Experiment Station, Annapolis, Maryland. 1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict. 232/1 Echo sounder... Also called depth finder. |
| 1916 Kipling Tales of ‘The Trade’ i. 6 Depth-keeping,..very difficult owing to heavy swell. 1923 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 527/1 Accurate depth-keeping being out of the question, I surfaced. 1959 H. Barnes Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. i. 26 Modern practice is tending more to the use of a depth-keeping device, either on the net itself or on the towing wire... The paravane principle is often employed. |
| 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 23 May p. xii/2 A sympathetic understanding of depth-psychological concepts. |
| 1947 Partisan Rev. XIV. 528 Those commonplaces are too humdrum for the depth psychologist. 1957 Observer 27 Oct. 18/6 Motivational research took the place of market research, and the depth psychologists became the eminences grises of salesmanship. |
| 1927 J. Riviere tr. Freud's Ego & Id i. 18 In the last resort the quality of being conscious or not is the single ray of light that penetrates the obscurity of depth-psychology. 1947 W. Empson Seven Types of Ambiguity (ed. 2) p. x, Some critics do not like to recognise this process because they connect it with Depth Psychology. 1960 H. Read Forms of Things Unknown viii. 133 Myth and dream, symbol and image—all the paraphernalia of depth-psychology—are conceived as shadow play. 1963 L. B. Lefebre tr. Boss's Psychoanalysis & Daseinsanalysis v. 87 The unconscious became so much the mark of psychoanalytic theory that psychoanalysis, and all doctrines derived from it, eventually became known as ‘depth’ psychologies. ‘Depth’ entered the picture because Freud..undertook to view mental phenomena in terms of a ‘topographic’ approach, and to regard the unconscious as a ‘psychical locality’..‘below’ consciousness. |
| 1911 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 295/1 Lord Kelvin's sounding machines..in the later form known as the ‘depth recorder’, where..results are obtained by the automatic record of the position of a piston forced upwards in a tube by..increased pressure. 1961 Listener 24 Aug. 269/1 After the war, echo-sounding and depth-recorders were introduced to fishing boats, and echoes were received of big shoals of fish. |
| 1959 H. Barnes Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. i. 23 If the speed of the towing vessel can be accurately controlled, then the depth of the net for a given towing speed may be determined in a series of trial runs, using a depth-recording device attached to the net. |
| 1814 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XXXVIII. 214 A violation of unity of scene, not sidewards, but depthwise. |