▪ I. sound, n.1
(saʊnd)
Forms: α. 1, 3–4 sund (4–5 sonde), 5–6 sownd(e, sounde, 4– sound. β. 5, 7 sown, 6–7 sowne, 8 Sc. soun.
[Partly OE. sund swimming, water, sea, and partly a. ON. sund swimming, strait (Norw. sund swimming, swim-bladder, strait, ferry; Sw. and Da. sund strait; G. sund is a late adoption). The stem sunda- represents an early sumda-, pre-Teutonic swm-tó-, f. the stem of swim v.]
I. † 1. The action or power of swimming. Obs.
| Beowulf 507 Eart þu se Beowulf, se þe wið Brecan wunne, on sidne sæ ymb sund flite. c 893 K. ælfred Oros. ii. iv. 72 Þa ᵹebeotode an his ðeᵹna þæt he mid sunde þa ea oferfaran wolde. c 1000 ælfric Hom. (Th.) I. 16 Of wætere he ᵹesceop fixas and fuᵹelas, and sealde ðam fixum sund, and ðam fuᵹelum fliht. c 1205 Lay. 21326 He..bi-haldeð hu ligeð i þan stræme stelene fisces, mid sweorde bi-georede, heore sund is awemmed. a 1300 Cursor M. 621 Fiss on sund, and fouxl on flight. Ibid. 1841 Þat was na creatur in liue..Bot it war fisse þat flett on sund. |
2. The swimming bladder of certain fish,
esp. of cod or sturgeon.
So
Norw. sund, also
sundmage (
Icel. sundmagi),
f. mage stomach (maw).
| α 1323–4 Ely Sacr. Rolls II. 43 In sound. empt. pro pictore, 4d. 1341–2 Ibid. 117 In..soundes pisc., 43/4d. 14.. in Rel. Ant. I. 163 For to make boke-glewe—Take the sowndys of stok-fysch. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 466 Sounde, of a fysche.., ventigina. 1530 Palsgr. 273/1 Sounde of a fysshe, cannon. 1661 Pepys Diary 16 Oct., This day dined..upon a fin of ling and some sounds. 1672 J. Josselyn New Eng. Rarities 32 The Sturgeon, of whose Sounds are made Isinglass. 1761 Franklin in J. Adams's Wks. (1850) II. 82 note, This fish-glue is nothing more than the sounds of cod or other fish, extended and dried in the sun. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 23 To dress Cod Sounds. Steep your sounds as you do the salt cod. 1822–7 Good Study Med. (1829) V. 443 All fishes, possessing a sound or air-bladder, are equally capable of supplying this organ with air. 1859 Habits of Gd. Society v. 223 Cod is cut crossways, and a small piece of the sound sent with each helping. 1882 Knowledge No. 10. 195 In a herring..the ‘sound’ may be seen as a silvery, glistening bag, which is removable along with the other organs of the fish when it is ‘gutted’. |
| β c 1475 Promp. Parv. 466 (MS. K.), Sown. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. xviii. 148 Cods..have also a thick and gluish substance at the end of their stomach called a sowne. 1701 Househ.-bk. of Lady G. Baillie (S.H.S.) Introd. p. xxxix, Two barrils of souns and gullits. |
† 3. Hunting. A spring or pool of water.
Obs.| 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 474 Our Hunters (I trowe) tearme it not to call it the water Springs, but they call it the Sound. The Stagge saie they, got him to the Sound. |
II. 4. A relatively narrow channel or stretch of water,
esp. one between the mainland and an island, or connecting two large bodies of water; a strait. Also, an inlet of the sea.
The first
quot. may represent the
OE. sund ‘sea, water’, but the later use appears to be clearly of
Scand. origin. Some writers, associating the word with
sound v.
2, have attempted to limit the application to channels capable of being easily sounded.
| a 1300 K. Horn 628 (Harl. MS.), Y fond a ship rowen in þe sound byflowen [v.r. Mid watere al by flowe]. 1513 Douglas æneid i. iv. 15 In ane braid sownd sovir frome al wyndis blawis, Flowis the schoir deip. c 1572 Gascoigne Fruites Warre cvii, The haste so hoate that (eare they sinke the sowne) They came on ground. 1595 Drake's Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 9 We passed a sounde, though, by our mariners, never passed by fleet afore. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. i. 164 Her haven angled so about her harb'rous sound, That in her quiet Bay a hundred ships may ride. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 399 Forthwith the Sounds and Seas, each Creek & Bay With Frie innumerable swarme. 1725 Pope Odyss. i. 93 The bright increase Of Phorcys, dreaded in the sounds and seas. 1774 Pennant Tour Scotl. in 1772, 215 Several little isles, divided by narrow and dangerous sounds. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 88 Steering then along shore, they opened another large sound. 1847 H. Miller First Impr. Eng. xi. (1857) 176 This region of central England was once a broad ocean sound..: there rose land on both sides of it. 1894 J. T. Fowler Adamnan Introd. 66 [Iona] is separated from the Ross of Mull by a sound or strait about a mile across. |
| transf. 1721 Swift South Sea Wks. 1755 III. ii. 136 There is a gulph where thousands fell; A narrow sound, though deep as hell. |
b. In the names of particular straits or inlets.
| 14.. Sailing Directions (Hakl. Soc.) 18 The sow[n]de of blaskay. Ibid. 19 The sounde of Ranseynes. c 1595 Capt. Wyatt Dudley's Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 5 Wee..safelie arived in the Sownde of Plimworth on the xix th day. 1600 Holland Livy xxii. 438 Certaine ships..were..taken about the sound or haven of Cossa. 1670 J. Smith Eng. Improv. Reviv'd vi. 253 The best and chiefest Sound in Shotland is Brace-sound or Broad-sound. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles i. vii, To where a turret's airy head..O'erlook'd, dark Mull! thy mighty Sound. 1865 Reader 4 Feb. 125/3 Near the entrance of Smith's Sound. 1907 Trans. Devon Assoc. 52 The Hamoaze and Plymouth Sound. |
c. the Sound, the strait between Denmark and Sweden which connects the Cattegat with the Baltic Sea. Also
attrib.| 1633 Sir J. Burroughs Sov. Brit. Seas (1651) 83 The King of Denmarke at his Wardhouse in the Sound. a 1646 J. Gregory Posthuma, Maps & Charts (1650) 328 It is called by the Danish Sond or Sund: by us the Sound. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 289 The strait called the Sound, which connects the North Sea with the Baltic. Ibid., Sound-dues, a toll or tribute levied by the King of Denmark on all merchant vessels passing the strait called the Sound. 1852 tr. Ida Pfeiffer's Journ. Iceland 40 The blue glistening Sound stretching out of sight between the coasts of Denmark and Sweden. |
▪ II. † sound, n.2 Obs. Forms: 3
sunde, 4–5
sound(e, 5
sonde.
[f. sund sound a. Cf. MLG. sunt (also gesunt, G. gesund), MSw. sund.] Health or soundness; safety or security. In
prep. phr. in sound or
on sound,
mid sound or
with sound.
| c 1205 Lay. 4967 He ferde mid sunde in to þisse londe. Ibid. 19703 Lauerd, beo þu on sunde. c 1325 Lai le Freine 51 Is his leuedi deliuerd with sounde? 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2489 Þus he commes to þe court, knyȝt al in sounde. c 1400 Destr. Troy 546 [To] put you in plite your purpos to wyn, In sound for to saile home & your sute all. |
▪ III. sound, n.3 (
saʊnd)
Forms: α. 4
sun(e, 4–5
son(e, 4–5, 6
Sc. sovne, 4–6
soun(e,
sownn(e, 5–6
sown(e, 6
Sc. sounn. β. 5–6
sownd(e, 6
sounde, 5–
sound.
[a. AF. soun, OF. son (= Prov. son, so, Sp. son, Pg. som, It. suono):—L. sonum, acc. of sonus sound. Cf. OE. són, ON. sónn, MDu. son, soen, from Latin or early OF. The form with excrescent
-d finally established itself in the 16th
cent., but is condemned by Stanyhurst as late as 1582 (
æneid To Reader, p. 11).]
1. a. The sensation produced in the organs of hearing when the surrounding air is set in vibration in such a way as to affect these; also, that which is or may be heard; the external object of audition, or the property of bodies by which this is produced. Hence also, pressure waves that differ from audible sound only in being of a lower or a higher frequency.
Cf. infrasound,
ultrasound.
| α a 1300–1400 Cursor M. 17288 + 101 When þat our lord vp-rose þe erthe quoke & made sown. a 1330 Roland & V. 708 As þe harp has þre þinges, Wode & soun & strenges. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 765 (Fairf.), Sovne ys noght but eyre ybroken. c 1400 Rom. Rose 4241 His instrumentis wolde he dight, For to blowe and make sowne. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. viii. 187 That is to seie, that speche and soun be mad in the ymage bi an aungel of God. 1513 Douglas æneid i. ii. 4 Ane brudy land of furious stormy sownn. |
| β c 1440 Promp. Parv. 466/1 Sownde, or dyne, sonitus, sonus. c 1450 in Aungier Syon (1840) 379 Whan they haue any nottes..they schal open them softly..and beware of sownde. 1530 Palsgr. 273/1 Sounde, noyse, son. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 11 He loudly brayd with beastly yelling sound. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. v. 216 It [silver] passeth golde in brightnesse, beauty and sound, the which is cleere, and agreeable. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 522 Linnets fill the Woods with tuneful Sound. 1744 Harris Three Treat. Wks. (1841) 30 In music, the fittest subjects of imitation are all such things and incidents as are most eminently characterized by motion and sound. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 64 Over the surface of smooth water, sound is conveyed admirably well. 1874 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. v. 142 Sound travels at the rate of 1090 feet in a second of time, when the air is at freezing point. 1967 I. M. Freeman All about Sound & Ultrasonics xiii. 99 Sonar is just one of the many uses that engineers and scientists have found for ultrasonic sound, which is often called ultrasound. These are names for sound that is too high in frequency to be heard. 1973 D. Ensminger Ultrasonics i. 6 Perhaps the animal that is best known for its use of ultrasonics is the bat. Many scientists have studied these interesting animals and their use of sound to find food. 1978 R. B. Minnix in Lipscomb & Taylor Noise Control i. 30 Infrasound is concerned with very low frequency (below about 20 Hz) longitudinal mechanical waves where sound is felt rather than heard. |
† b. Music, melody.
Obs.| c 1320 Sir Tristr. 2857 Alle maner soun And gle Of minestrals vp and doun Bifor þe folk so fre. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. ii. xi, Terpsichore the fyft with humbill soun, Makis on psalteris modulatioun. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Jas. I ix, In liberall artes, in instrumentale sowne. |
c. The music, speech, etc., accompanying film, television broadcasting, or other forms of visual presentation (
cf. picture n. 2
f.).
sound-on-film (
Cinemat.), the incorporation of the sound track with the film. Freq.
attrib. Cf. married print s.v. married ppl. a. 3.
| 1928 Television Oct. 10/2 A one-act play was..televised..and receiving televisors within a range of four miles tuned in both sight and sound. 1960 [see picture n. 2 f]. 1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) iii. iii. 322 Emma was..watching television, but she had the sound..low. |
| 1931 B. Brown Talking Pictures 270 Sound-on-film recording may be monitored direct from a photo-electric cell in the recording machine. 1957 Manvell & Huntley Technique Film Music ii. 27 The true arrival of the sound film was the arrival of sound-on-film. 1976 Oxf. Compan. Film 450/1 In the Vitaphone process the sound came from a disc precariously synchronized with the picture. The limitations of this system were quickly recognized and ‘sound-on-film’ became standard. |
d. Physics. Applied to various kinds of wave motion (designated
zero sound,
second sound,
third, etc., sound) that are predicted or observed to occur in superfluids and physically bear some resemblance to ordinary (‘first’) sound.
| 1944, etc. [see second sound s.v. second a. 7 a]. 1957 tr. L. D. Landau in Soviet Physics JETP V. 102/1 It is shown..that in a Fermi liquid at absolute zero other waves can be propagated; these differ in nature from ordinary sound, and we shall call them waves of ‘zero sound’. 1959 K. R. Atkins in Physical Rev. CXIII. 962 This article discusses the possible existence of two hitherto undetected types of wave propagation in liquid helium II. Third sound is a surface wave of long wavelength on a liquid helium film... Fourth sound may exist in narrow two-sided channels. Ibid., To discuss wave propagation in liquid helium II, it is necessary to write down two separate hydrodynamical equations, one for the superfluid component and the other for the normal component. In first sound the two components move in the same direction in phase, and there is a first-order oscillation of the density but only a second-order oscillation of the temperature. In second sound the two components move in opposite directions out of phase, and the temperature oscillation is then first-order while the density oscillation is only second-order. 1969 W. E. Keller Helium-3 & Helium-4 vi. 203 (caption) Attenuation and propagation velocity of sound in liquid He3 showing the characteristics associated with the transition from first sound to zero sound for two frequencies. 1974 D. J. Bergman in K. D. Timmerhaus et al. Low Temperature Physics—LT 13 I. 507 Following our experience with third sound, we may expect that in fourth sound, too, when the channels that hold the helium are sufficiently small so that the normal fluid motion is completely locked out, the only important source of attenuation will be conduction of heat into the walls of the helium channels. 1974 Nature 15 Mar. 194/3 The report..that they have observed the propagation of fourth sound in the two newly discovered phases of liquid 3He amounts to the first unequivocal evidence that both of these new phases are superfluids. 1976 Physics Bull. Aug. 351/2 ‘Zero sound’..corresponds to oscillations in shape of the Fermi surface. 1981 Nature 2 Apr. 359/2 Second sound is an unusual type of propagating wave mode, which can occur in superfluids, involving fluctuations in the local temperature and entropy of a medium rather than in the local density and pressure as found in a conventional sound wave. |
e. sound and light = son et lumière 1. Used
attrib.| 1960 Woman 23 Jan. 35/3 The pretty little town of Buxton, one of the first in England to stage a ‘sound and light’ production for summer visitors. 1966 J. Philips Wings of Madness (1967) i. i. 9 The Sound and Light program put on..every night..kept tourists in town. 1979 United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 548 On weekend evenings, a multimedia sound-and-light show using laser beams. |
2. a. The particular auditory effect produced by a special cause.
| α 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5750 A voys sede as him þoȝte þes wordes þoru þe soun. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4971 Fra þe tyme þat þai þe son sal here. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 294 So lowde his belle is runge, That of the noise and of the soun Men feeren hem in al the toun. c 1400 Sowdone Bab. 437 Through the Cite wente the sowne, So lowde than gan he yelle. c 1500 Lancelot 1035 To warnnyng them vp goith the bludy sown. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 108 By the..plashyng or soune that it gave in the falle. |
| β c 1480 Henryson Orpheus & Eurydice 140 Throu suetenes of the sound, The dog slepit and fell vnto the ground. c 1580 J. Hooker Life Sir P. Carew in Archæologia XXVIII. 144 The trumpeter, clothed in blacke, soundinge the deade sounde. 1609 Dekker Gull's Horn Bk. Wks. (Grosart) II. 253 Throw the cards..round about the Stage, iust vpon the third sound, as though you had lost. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 78 From Hills and Dales the chearful Cries rebound: For Echo hunts along, and propagates the Sound. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. viii. i. (1862) II. 243 It is rather the vibrations of the sound that affect the water by which they are excited, than any sounds that they hear. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xi, Let us hasten on, for the sound will collect the country to the spot. 1839 G. Bird Nat. Philos. 127 The intensity of sound is modified..by the original direction of the sound. |
b. Const.
of, or with possessives. (
Cf. 3 b.)
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 12195 Als a chim or brasin bell, Þat noþer can vnderstand ne tell Wat takens þair aun sune. c 1300 St. Brandan 383 (Percy Soc.), The Soun of him [v.r. of his wyngen] Murie was. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1642 This foule trumpes soun. c 1460 Sir R. Ros La Belle Dame 123 Lyke as þe sownne of birdis doth expres whanne thei synge lowde. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 221 b/2, He was said the sone of thondre by cause of the soune of his predycacion. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 81 b, A potte..well tryed by y⊇ tyncklyng and soune thereof. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 41 The sowne Of swarming Bees. |
| β 1480 Robt. Devyll 456 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 236 Of theyr prayers to heauen wente the sownde. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 120 If they here the sound of the bel, they runne thither streight. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xxvi. 145 Their countenance [is] furious, and the sound of their voyce fearefull. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 84, I sensibly heard..the sound of the vollies of shot in that skirmish. 1669 Dryden Tyrannic Love i. i, Like the hoarse murmurs of a trumpet's sound. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho l, In a low..tone, as if the sound of his own voice frightened him. 1815 Scott Guy M. xiv, He listened to every noise in the street.., and endeavoured to distinguish in it the sound of hoofs or wheels. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 379 But with boasts like these was mingled the sound of complaint and invective. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Quiet Neighb. xxvii. (1878) 466 As soon as I ceased to hear the sound of their progress. |
c. Similarly with omission of
the.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1031 Þar..es..Sune of santes þat þar singes. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2615 Hypermnestra, Ful is the place of soun of menstralsye. 14.. Lat.-Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 578 Diaphosia,..soun of voys. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 50 Vnto no mess pressit this prelat, For sound of sacring bell nor skellat. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 10 Feb. 1685, After sound of trumpets and silence made. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. Pref. p. iii, Things, which..they ought rather to publish at sound of Trumpet. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxvii, With sound of bugles, broaching of barrels, and all the freedom of a silvan meal. 1842 Tennyson Godiva 36 She sent a herald forth, And bade him cry, with sound of trumpet, all The hard condition. |
d. The distance or range over which the sound of something is heard. In
phr. in or within the sound of (something).
| 1617 Minsheu Ductor s.v. Cockney, One borne within the sound of Bow-bell. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock iv. 118 Sooner shall grass in Hyde-park Circus grow, And wits take lodgings in the sound of Bow. 1852 M. Arnold The Future 16 Whether he first sees light Where the river..winds through the plain: Whether in sound of the swallowing sea. |
3. a. A particular cause of auditory effect; an instance of the sensation resulting from this. Hence also, a phenomenon identical to an audible sound except that it is inaudible by reason of its frequency (
cf. sense 1 a).
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 18320 All þai sang þus, wit a sun. 13.. K. Alis. 1183 (W.), He blowith smert and loude sones. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 215 Thou shalte haue many rynnynge engyns to make horribill Sownes to gasten thyn enemys. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop ii. i, He casted to them a grete pyece of wood, whiche maade a grete sowne and noyse in the water. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Sonus, To heare sownes or noyses. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. v. 30 A gentle streame, whose murmuring waue..made a sowne, To lull him soft a sleepe. |
| β 1483 Cath. Angl. 349/2 A Sownde, crepitaculum, crepitus, crepor. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 78 He shall gyue a swete syluer sounde. 1562 Winȝet Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 37 Thre sindry soundis blawin almast at ane tyme. 1609 Dekker Gull's Horn-bk. iii. 15 The eares are two Musique roomes into which as well good sounds as bad, descend. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xiii. (1695) 85 To feign a Knowledge..by making a noise with Sounds, without clear and distinct Significations. 1709 Tatler No. 81 ¶2 There was heard..a Sound like that of a Trumpet. 1754 Gray Progr. Poesy 76 Ev'ry shade and hallow'd Fountain Murmur'd deep a solemn sound. 1815 Byron ‘My soul is dark’ i, If in this heart a hope be dear, That sound shall charm it forth again. 1851 Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 341 Concurrently with the impulse of the heart against the chest, a dull and prolonged sound is heard. 1885 J. Payn Talk of Town I. 156 Mr. Erin muttered an articulate sound such as a bumble-bee makes when imprisoned between two panes of glass. 1950 Sci. Amer. Aug. 52/2 The English physiologist H. Hartridge..watched bats flying through darkened rooms and advanced the theory that they might be orienting themselves by means of ultrasonic sounds too high in frequency for human ears to hear. 1976 L. H. Schaudinischky Sound, Man, & Building i. 8 Above 20 000 Hz extends the ‘infinite’ supersonic range, the ultrasound. Man is not equipped with an organ capable of directly responding to sounds in that range, but where infrasound is concerned it may be picked up with the aid of a special sense of touch. 1978 J. Goldstein in P. M. Lipscomb Noise & Audiol. i. 6 In order to be heard, a sound must be within a certain frequency range because there are limitations in the frequencies the human ear can perceive. |
b. Const.
of, or with possessives. (
Cf. 2 b.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 23303 Þan sal þai here þe sunes O nedders bath and of draguns. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1874 Ich here a menstrel, to say, Of tristrem he haþ a soun. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 51 With a clere sowne of plate and of coyngnage. 1474 Caxton Chesse iii. vii. (1883) 141 He herde the sownes of musique right melodious. c 1500 Lancelot 772 The trumpetis..blawen furth ther sownis. 1705 Addison Italy 3 Oft in the Winds is heard a plaintive Sound Of melancholy Ghosts. 1832 W. Irving Alhambra I. 68 A murmuring sound of water now and then rises from the valley. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 283 Popular tales..are the lingering sounds of world-old myths. |
† c. A musical tone.
Obs.—1| 1662 Playford Music 9 Making them half a tone or sound lower than they were before. |
d. pl. Popular music; also in
sing., a tune or record.
slang (
orig. U.S.).
| 1955 Amer. Speech XXX. 304 Kenton's music is round sounds. 1961 Rigney & Smith Real Bohemia p. xvii, Sounds, music, mainly jazz. 1968 Daily Mirror 27 Aug. 7/5 Together cats don't buy records, they buy sounds, and they never blow their cool. |
e. A characteristic style of (
usu. popular) music indicated by a defining word or words.
Cf. Mersey sound s.v. Mersey.
| 1963 [see gear n. 5 e]. 1967 Radio Times 21 Dec. 55/4 The Greek Sound... Tonight's programme is about the new genre, which in the last eight years has given a new impetus and vitality to Greek popular music. 1970 Guardian 15 June 9/5 Steel Bands and the Reggae Sound beloved of skinheads. 1974 Listener 13 June 767/1 In 1927, there was an inimitable Ellington sound, and so there was at the end. |
4. a. In restricted sense: The auditory effect produced by the operation of the human voice; utterance, speech, or one of the separate articulations of which this is composed.
| (a) a 1300 Cursor M. 11685 Vnnethe had he said þe sune [= the words], Quen þe tre it boghed dune. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 532 He..sayde to hem with sobre soun; ‘Wy stonde ȝe ydel þise dayez longe?’ 1385 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 161 Hit semeþ a greet wonder how..her owne langage and tonge is so dyuerse of sown in þis oon ilond. c 1420 Pol., Rel., & L. Poems (1903) 240 Ȝet þei answerid with dollefulle sone. 1575 Gascoigne Certayne Notes Wks. 1907 I. 467 Remembre to place every worde in his natural Emphasis or sound. a 1586 Sidney Ps. xvii. iii, Then by thee, [I] was guiltlesse found From ill word, and ill meaning sound. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 557 Deni'd To Beasts, whom God on thir Creation-Day Created mute to all articulat sound. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 365 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence, The sound must seem an Echo to the sense. 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Epist. ii. i. 171 He forms the Infant's Tongue to firmer Sound. c 1825 Whately in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 279/1 The Choice of words, with a view to their Imitative, or otherwise, Appropriate sound. 1867 Trans. Philol. Soc. 82 On the sound of initial th in English. Ibid., The..two varieties of sound, which we now represent..by the digraph th. |
| (b) 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1017 Idle words,..Unprofitable sounds. 1663 S. Patrick Parab. Pilgrim iv. (1687) 13 But when he speaks, his words are more than sounds, and have a sting in them which pierces the very heart. 1815 Scott Guy M. xli, The remnants of an old prophecy, or song, or rhyme;..it is a strange jingle of sounds. 1867 Trans. Philol. Soc. Suppl. 1 On Palaeotype, or the representation of spoken sounds..by means of the ancient types. 1894 W. Lindsay Latin Lang. 1 If an alphabet is to express the sounds of a language properly, each nation must construct one for itself. |
b. The audible articulation(s) corresponding to a letter, word, name, etc.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) vii. 27 Þe letters and þaire sounes and þaire names. 1530 Palsgr. 3 E in frenche hath never suche a sownde as we use to gyve hym in these wordes [etc.]. c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 7 Quhat was the right roman sound of them [the vowels] is hard to judge. 1779 Mirror No. 64, My ears were now familiarized with the sounds of Duke, Marquis, Earl. 1825 Scott Talism. xxv, The very sound of the name of a royal maiden. 1892 Stevenson Across the Plains i. 11 None can care for literature in itself who do not take a special pleasure in the sound of names. |
c. Used with implication of richness, euphony, or harmony.
| 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 116 Woordes that fill the mouthe and haue a sound with them, set forthe a matter verie well. 1614 Brerewood Lang. & Relig. 131 The last letter of the first word cut off in the Greek pronunciation for sounds sake. 1780 Mirror No. 110, Blackfriars-wynd can never vie with Drury-lane in point of sound. 1781 Cowper Table-T. 516 If sentiment were sacrific'd to sound, And truth cut short to make a period round. |
† d. Import, sense, significance.
Obs. In modern use there is an approach to this sense in phrases which indicate the mental impression produced by a statement, as in
sound v.
1 4 (see sense 4 f).
| a 1614 Donne βιαθανατος (1644) 165 A private man in a just warre, may not onely kill, contrary to the sound of this Commandement, but hee may kill his Father, contrary to another. a 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. i. (1673) 56, I have heard a proverb to this sound [etc.]. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 18 Aug. 1673, [He said] ‘No, Mr. E..., I will never see this place, this Citty or Court againe’, or words of this sound. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 95 As for being deliver'd, the Word had no Sound, as I may say, to me. |
e. Mere audible effect, without significance or real importance.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. v. 27 A Tale Told by an Ideot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. a 1704 Locke (J.), Let us consider this proposition as to its meaning; for it is the sense and not sound that must be the principle. 1775 Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 33 That a free man is governed by himself..is a position of mighty sound; but every man that utters it..feels it to be false. 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 55 The reason..might in sound be plausible enough, but it certainly was of no benefit. |
f. The impression produced by a statement or report,
freq. in
phr. to like the sound of (some person or thing). (See note at sense 4 d.)
| 1859 Mrs. Gaskell Let. 21 Mar. (1966) 543, I like the ‘sound’ of him extremely, and I hope he will like me when we come to know each other. 1965 R. Sheckley Game of X (1966) xxii. 155 ‘You take care of the piloting, and we will handle the navigating.’ Somehow I didn't like the sound of that. |
5. a. Fame or knowledge, report or rumour, news or tidings (
of some thing or person).
Obs. exc. arch.| 1413 26 Pol. Poems xii. 86 Of noblay þey han lore þe sown. 1436 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 164 They have also ransonned toune by toune, That into the regnes of bost have ronne here soune. 1545 Joye Exp. Dan. ii. D vij, When the sowne of the gospell shall be blowne abroade into every lande. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 26 Such odde kinde of reports,..the least whereof would make you storme to the gale, if a man should but ouer-slip himselfe in giuing any manner of sound of you. 1781 Cowper Hope 454 God gives the word—the preachers..spread the glorious sound. 1808 Scott Marm. vi. vii, Fame of my fate made various sound. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam ii. xiii, Until the mighty sound Of your career shall scatter in its gust The thrones of the oppressor. |
b. dial. With
a: A rumour.
| 1899 Raymond No Soul above Money ii. i. 180 He had a-heard a sound that there wasn't enough stock on the farm. |
6. In elliptical uses.
a. Cinemat. and
Broadcasting. The department in charge of recording sound. Also, an engineer in this department; the equipment used by him.
| a 1940 F. Scott Fitzgerald Last Tycoon (1941) iii. 30 Call sound, and if he's been heard from, call him. 1969 M. Steinbeck On Stage 165 The voice track on a film is called the sound track. The engineer in charge and the whole unit is referred to simply as ‘sound’. The director may call out before a take, ‘Is sound ready?’ 1972 Listener 21 Dec. 852/1 Sequence of calls before a shot. Production Assistant: ‘Quiet. Going for a take. Standing by.’ Director: ‘Right.’ Sound: ‘Sound running.’ |
b. = radio n. 2 b.
Cf. sound radio, sense 8 b below. Also
attrib.| 1949 Times 17 Feb. 5/3 The first hundred thousand mark is about to be reached in..television licences..compared with the 11 m. for sound. 1955 Times 29 June 11/2 So far not even B.B.C. television has found the way to transfer the aura of the 9 p.m. sound news to television. 1967 ‘M. Hunter’ Cambridgeshire Disaster iv. 28 If necessary he would give up television, ask for a transfer to Sound, anything to get more time at home. 1972 P. Black Biggest Aspidistra iii. iii. 171 The most obvious effect of the Coronation for television was the demand for sets... Though the BBC still regarded sound as the senior service..the sound audience never again exceeded television's. |
7. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib., as
sound-alarm,
sound-aspect,
sound-association,
sound-change,
sound-clause,
sound-colour,
sound-combination,
sound-complex,
sound-development,
sound distinction,
sound-element,
sound energy,
sound event,
sound-feature,
sound-gesture,
sound-group,
sound-history [
tr. G.
lautgeschichte],
sound-image,
sound-intensity,
sound-language,
sound level,
sound-mark,
sound-output,
sound-pattern,
sound-picture,
sound poem,
sound power,
sound-quality,
sound-sentence,
sound-sequence,
sound-structure,
sound-symbol,
sound-system,
sound-type,
sound-unit,
sound-value,
sound-wave,
sound-word,
sound-world., etc.
Freq. in reference to vocal sound.
| 1843 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. VI. 146/2 Improvements in breakwaters, beacons, and *sound-alarms. |
| 1936 H. Mulder Cognition & Volition in Lang. 46 The life of the language as regards its *sound-aspect. 1954 A. H. Gardiner Theory of Proper Names (ed. 2) 73 Even logicians..overlooked the importance of the sound-aspect. |
| 1924 Mawer & Stenton Introd. to Survey of Eng. Place-Names ix. 174 Its chief weakness is the remoteness of the *sound-association between the original compound name and the suggested simple derivative. |
| 1866 G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. p. xxxvii, The law of *sound-change in certain given dialects or languages at certain given periods. 1912 L. Bloomfield in Jrnl. Eng. & Gmc. Philol. XI. 623 S[heffield] confuses the factors—sound-change and analogy—that constitute change in language. 1939 [see palatal a. 2 b]. 1962 W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use i. 5 Calling in alliteration's aid and that of a sound-change. |
| a 1889 G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 273 We may now say of rhythm i.e. verse that it is the recasting of speech into sound-words, *sound-clauses and sound-sentences. |
| 1890 G. B. Shaw in Star 9 May 2/5 Marlowe's line was not ‘mighty’..but it was tuneful, exquisitely emphasised, and sometimes gorgeous in its *sound color. 1962 Listener 9 Aug. 225/1 Schönberg's ‘melody of sound-colours’ (Klangfarbenmelodie). |
| 1924 Mawer & Stenton Introd. to Survey of Eng. Place-Names v. 100 An unfamiliar English sound or *sound-combination was altered to suit the Norman pronunciation. 1965 Language XLI. 93 First a child learns a sound-combination and then he attaches meaning to it! |
| 1931 G. Stern Meaning & Change of Meaning 31 If the *sound-complex is to be apprehended as meaning something..a mental content must accrue to it. |
| 1900 E. Björkman Scand. Loan-Words in M.E. I. 30 There are some tests of form which are not based on differences of *sound-development between Scandinavian and English. 1965 English Studies XLVI. 141 Surnames, like Johe Le Roper..reflect the spoken dialect, but do not necessarily prove indigenous sound-developments. |
| 1884 Sweet in Philol. Soc. Trans. 598 The imperfect *sound-distinctions of Saxon Germans. |
| 1884 Cent. Mag. XXVII. 819 The highest art in the *sound-element of poetry. |
| 1931 G. O. Russell Speech & Voice iv. 21 (heading) *Sound-energy not air motion. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 239 They readily remove sound energy from the air at their resonant frequency, and this is then mopped up within the absorber. |
| 1962 P. Strevens Papers in Lang. (1965) xii. 146 When *sound events are recorded, the technical standard of recording is important. |
| 1939 Word Study Mar. 2/1 Linguistics..deals with the use of a limited number of definable events—the significant *sound-features of a language—occurring in certain definable sequences. 1964 W. R. Lee in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 292 Sounds and sound-features which belong to neither language. |
| 1938 I. Goldberg Wonder of Words iv. 55 *Sound-gesture, such as Paget draws upon in this etymology, is precisely what it is called. 1956 J. Lotz in L. White Frontiers of Knowl. xiv. 219 Marginal sound-gestures like the bilabial trill used when shivering: Brrr! |
| 1928 O. Jespersen in Proc. Brit. Acad. XIV. 352 There are no other words than switch and stretch beginning and ending with exactly these *sound-groups. 1964 J. Vachek in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 199 If followed by a vowel, the same sound-group was preserved unimpaired. |
| 1933 O. Jespersen Essentials Eng. Gram. vi. 62 The *sound-history of French also serves to explain some striking peculiarities concerning the use of the letter g in English spelling. 1964 English Studies XLV. 422 A detailed knowledge of sound-history..and sound-substitutions. |
| 1943 tr. M. Buber in H. Read Educ. through Art ix. 279 *Sound-image after sound-image..emerges from vibrating throat..into the surrounding air. 1951 A. H. Gardiner Theory of Speech & Lang. 70 It is only the sound-image connected with the words which can be reproduced in a physical copy. 1973 S. Heath in Screen Spring/Summer 108 A langue is defined by Saussure as a system of signs, a sign being the union of signifiant (‘sound-image’) and signifié (‘concept’). 1982 Listener 16 Dec. 26/3 There's something wrong with the way a taped sound-image remains fixed in eternity. |
| 1934 Discovery Dec. 346/1 Noise is a subjective phenomenon and cannot be directly measured. The stimulus causing this impression of sound is a *sound-intensity which can be defined and measured objectively. 1952 Mind LXI. 215 It is impossible to imagine a sound-intensity divorced from any definite sound-pitch. 1969 Gloss. Acoustical Terms (B.S.I.) 16 Sound intensity,..the sound energy flux through unit area. |
| 1918 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. XXXIX. 89 A Dakota Indian..would not understand a Neapolitan, even though he would sooner understand the gestures than the *sound-language. 1937 R. A. Wilson Birth of Lang. 160 The twenty-six already differentiated elements of sound-language. |
| 1931 S. K. Wolf in L. Cowan Recording Sound for Motion Pictures xx. 301 It is necessary to have some means of varying *sound levels in theatres. 1974 Physics Bull. June 227/1 Leeds City Council, decided to use its licensing laws to limit sound levels in ballrooms, discotheques and similar places of entertainment. |
| a 1892 W. Whitman Daybks. & Notebks. (1978) III. 671 One of the first desiderata..is a set of..*sound-marks attached to letters..each mark belonging to that specific sound. 1953 H. Read True Voice of Feeling I. viii. 144 The caesura is..the breaking of the rhythm into sense words of different length from the sound marks. 1978 Sci. Amer. Jan. 29/3 We cannot shut our earlids; awake, we are always open to..the old soundmarks we remember and cherish. |
| 1881 Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 298 The existence of *sound-organs,..implies a corresponding development of the sense of hearing. |
| 1937 *Sound output [see control engineer s.v. control n. 5]. 1947 Crowther & Whiddington Science at War 175 It was found that the sound-output was mainly due to propellers. |
| 1925 Language I. 41 One must ascertain if the sound is a typical form or one of the points in its *sound pattern, or is merely a variant of such a form. 1977 P. Strevens New Orientations Teaching of English xii. 154 Accent features are manifested in sound-patterns of various kinds. |
| 1903 A. W. Patterson Schumann xvi. 186 The whole forms a kind of *sound-picture representing the various personages in the dance. |
| Ibid. xvii. 203 What if the tone poet..knew infinitely better than his..advisers what was or was not fitting in the great *sound-poem to which his genius gave birth? 1971 Guardian 18 Feb. 10/6 Artaud wrote sound poems. |
| 1947 Crowther & Whiddington Science at War iii. 155 A transmitter producing about 50 watts of *sound-power in water was adequate. |
| 1950 D. Jones Phoneme 12 An alphabetic system of phonetic transcription consists of letters representing *sound-qualities. 1977 Broadcast 28 Nov. 14/2 The singles we get are so badly pressed that we get complaints from listeners about the sound quality. |
| a 1889 *Sound-sentence [see sound-clause above]. |
| 1914 L. Bloomfield in Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc. XLV. 69 The various parts of this *sound-sequence..have been heard and uttered by the speaker (or the hearer). 1962 F. Behre Contrib. Eng. Syntax 134 The sound-sequence..must correlate with certain extra-lingual elements to be inferred from the context. |
| 1888 Clodd Story Creation xi. 215 Tribes whose stock of *sound-signs is so limited that they cannot understand each other in the dark. |
| 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. x. 307 The necessity of employing *sound-signals in dense fogs. |
| 1959 D. Cooke Lang. Mus. v. 234 Music..has now become pure *sound-structure, an intellectual and aesthetic delight. |
| 1936 Science & Society I. 38 Certain *sound-symbols are universally attached to the same referent by all members of the community. 1975 Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xxvi. 521 The learning of sound-symbol correspondences should take place in the context of whole word recognition and reading for meaning. |
| 1879 H. Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 1877–9 544, I am fully conscious that mine is a very inadequate study of an exceptionally difficult *sound-system. 1884 ― in Trans. Philol. Soc. 599 The richness of our sound-system. 1897 Mod. Lang. Notes XII. 244 Least understood..is the historical development of the sound-systems of modern dialects. 1949 J. R. Firth in Trans. Philol. Soc. 1948 132 More detailed notice of ‘h’ and the glottal stop in a variety of languages will reveal the scientific convenience of regarding them as belonging to the prosodic systems of certain langauges rather than to the sound systems. 1977 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 1976 XXI. 177 No information about how they work in the sound system of a language is gained. |
| 1941 *Sound-type [see allophone]. 1964 J. C. Catford in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 29 The laryngologists have no tradition of systematic..description of phonologically pertinent sound-types. |
| 1934 J. J. Logan Outl. Eng. Philol. 24 A syllable, thus, is a *sound-unit. |
| 1920 T. S. Eliot Sacred Wood 133 It is an arrangement and choice of words which has a *sound-value and at the same time a coherent comprehensible meaning. 1964 W. R. Lee in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 288 There is a tendency to give them [sc. letters] the sound-values they possess in the learner's mother tongue. |
| 1848 Trans. R. Irish Acad. XXI. 65, I proceed now to explain..the circumstances of the great sea wave and of the aërial *sound wave, attending most great earthquakes. 1867 Tyndall Sound i. 19 The sound-waves, travelling through a homogeneous atmosphere, reached the ear, undiminished by reflection. |
| a 1889 *Sound-word [see sound-clause above]. |
| 1961 Times 19 June 9/6 Its *sound-world is the old sound-world—parts of it exult in the manner of Richard Strauss. 1976 Gramophone Aug. 319/3 Decca and DG engineers help their artists to create a much more limpid and crystalline soundworld. |
b. With agent-nouns,
vbl. ns., and
pres. pples., as
sound-carrier,
sound concentrator,
sound-detector,
sound-locator;
sound-absorption,
sound-production;
sound-absorbent,
sound-absorptive,
sound-imitative adjs.;
sound-conducting,
sound-deadening,
sound-exulting,
sound-making,
sound-producing,
sound-reflecting, etc.
| 1961 P. Strevens Papers in Lang. (1965) xi. 137 The upper surface..is hard, and therefore probably less *sound-absorbent. |
| 1935 Discovery May 126/2 The latest designs and materials for sound-proofing and *sound absorption. 1972 Lebende Sprachen XVII. 37/1 Sound absorption, 1) the process of dissipating..sound energy. 2) The property possessed by materials..of absorbing sound energy. |
| 1937 Archit. Rev. LXXXI. p. lxxii/1 The complete unit is also lined with *sound-absorptive material. 1977 Chicago Tribune 2 Oct. vi. 9/2 Rehearsals with empty seats are one thing, performances with every seat..filled with sound-absorptive bodies quite another. |
| 1888 E. Clodd Story Creation xi. 216 The..languages of civilised races, the *sound-carriers..of the lofty conceptions which are enshrined in prose and poetry. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 832/1 *Sound Concentrator and Projector. |
| 1853 Markham Skoda's Auscult. 93 In consequence of the *sound-conducting power of the tissue being increased by its condensation. |
| 1945 Nelson & Wright Tomorrow's House iii. 16/2 The existence of walls lined with books constitutes an excellent *sound-deadening treatment. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ii. 48 Of the various possible sound-deadening systems, it is best to try to avoid those which give a padded-cell effect. |
| 1878 Chambers's Jrnl. 29 June 413/1 An extremely delicate *sound detector. 1942 W. Simpson One of our Pilots is Safe 54 Chances of escaping detection would be good, either by enemy fighters high above or sound detectors on the ground. |
| 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. 333 My cloven fire-crags, *sound-exulting fountains Laugh with a vast and inextinguishable laughter. |
| 1921 E. Sapir Language 4 The interjections and *sound-imitative words. 1956 J. Lotz in L. White Frontiers of Knowl. xiv. 223 Even sound-imitative words vary: thus the English splash corresponds to Hungarian loccsan. |
| 1919 *Sound-locator [see locator 4]. 1941 D. Masters So Few ix. 106 Human ears listening at the sound locators to detect the course [of the aircraft]. 1977 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXV. 419/2 The Sound Locator..greatly assisted the anti⁓aircraft personnel to plan their defences in advance. |
| 1875 Whitney Life Lang. ii. 10 By imitation of the *sound-making persons around him. |
| 1871 Darwin Desc. Man ii. xi. (1890) 327 In two families of the Homoptera..the males alone possess *sound-producing organs in an efficient state. |
| 1925 P. Radin tr. Vendryès's Language 20 The study of *sound-production, that is to say,..phonation. |
| 1894 Times (weekly ed.) 2 Feb. 99/2 The adoption of *sound-reading in the English telegraph offices. |
| 1933 Archit. Rev. LXXIII. 232 Only a small area of the walls has a *sound-reflecting surface. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 44 A ‘bathroom’ acoustic would be provided by a small room with strongly sound-reflecting walls. |
| 1892 Wright Gothic Primer §109 The first *sound-shifting, popularly called Grimm's Law. |
| 1876 T. Le M. Douse Grimm's L. 151, K pure must have been..the original single parent sound from which the impure K's were derived—one by ordinary *sound-weakening, and the other by Reflex Dissimilation. |
8. a. Special combs.:
sound-attribute Linguistics, a prosodic feature;
sound-bar Mus. (see
quot.);
sound barrier, the obstacle to supersonic flight posed by such factors as increased drag and reduced controllability, which occur when aircraft not specially designed for such flight approach the speed of sound; also
fig.;
to break the sound barrier, to travel faster than sound;
sound-body Mus., the hollow part of a stringed instrument which strengthens its sound;
sound-bow, the thickest part of a bell, against which the hammer strikes;
sound-box, sound-body; also in a gramophone, the box which carries the reproducing or recording stylus;
sound channel Oceanogr., a layer of water in which sound is propagated over long distances with minimum energy loss,
usu. because of refraction back into this layer from above owing to the temperature gradient, and from below owing to the pressure gradient;
sound-conditioned a. [
condition v. 9], sound-insulated; having improved acoustic qualities; hence
sound conditioning;
sound effect, (
a)
orig. U.S. (
usu. in
pl.), a sound typical of an event or evocative of an atmosphere, produced artificially in a play, film, etc. (
cf. effect n. 3 c); also
attrib. and
transf.; (
b) the effect produced by the sound of a word;
sound-hand, a system of shorthand based on a phonetic representation of speech-sounds;
sound-house (see
quot.);
sound-insulated a., insulated against sound; also
sound insulation;
sound-law Philol. [
tr. G.
lautgesetz], a rule stating the regular occurrence of a phonetic change in the history of a language or language family;
sound-lore, the science of phonology;
sound meter, an instrument for measuring the intensity of sound;
sound moderator, a device fitted to a firearm which reduces the noise of report, a silencer;
sound pressure, the difference between the instantaneous pressure at a point in the presence of a sound wave and the static pressure of the medium;
sound print = sonogram;
sound-proof a., preventing the passage of loud or disturbing sound or noise; hence
sound-proofing vbl. n.;
sound-proofed a., that has been made sound-proof;
sound-ranging Mil. (see
quot. 1973); hence
sound-ranger, one trained in sound-ranging;
soundscape [
scape n.3], (
a) a musical composition consisting of a texture of sounds; (
b) the sounds which form an auditory environment;
sound-shift,
Philol. = shift n. 14 c;
sound-shifting [
tr. G.
lautverschiebung];
sound spectrogram = sonogram;
sound spectrograph = sonograph 1; hence
sound-spectrographic a.;
sound spectrography;
sound-substitution Linguistics, the replacement of one phoneme by another; hence (as back-formation)
sound-substitute v. trans., to replace (one phoneme) by another (
rare);
sound-symbolism Linguistics, the (partial) natural representation of the sense of a word by its sound; hence
sound-symbolic a., pertaining to or manifesting such symbolism;
sound-tight a. = sound-proof adj.| 1932 D. Jones Outl. Eng. Phonetics (ed. 3) i. 2 The student of spoken English..must learn the proper usage in the matter of the ‘*sound-attributes’ (length, stress, and voice-pitch). 1945–9 Acta Linguistica V. 88 The phonemes of a given language are realized in concrete sounds and sound-attributes. |
| 1884 Haweis My Musical Life I. 225 The *sound-bar is a strip of pine wood running obliquely under the left foot of the bridge [of the violin]. |
| 1939 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLIII. 818 It is noteworthy that the curve, which at first is flat, rises gradually for a while, without the enormous increases which other experimenters have found between M.n. 0·6 and 0·8, and which have made them speak of a concrete ‘*sound barrier’. 1952 Times 8 Sept. 5/2 Their moment of triumph after breaking once more through the sound barrier. a 1955 in T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences (1955) iii. 112 Is there a Sound Barrier against your Son? 1955 Times 7 July 8/3 The bang that shook London early on Tuesday morning was caused..by a Gloster Javelin breaking the sound barrier. 1963 Listener 14 Mar. 457/1 The African rhythmic element is not part of the Asian musical heritage, and there are totally different tonal systems which constitute a kind of ‘sound-barrier’ which jazz has had to crash. 1973 A. Price October Men xvi. 231 When the General whispered, people moved..when he growled, they broke the sound barrier. 1976 Lancs. Evening Post 7 Dec. 1/4 When we went through the sound barrier I only felt a very slight judder. |
| 1875 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, *Sound-body. |
| 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 462/1 The *Sound Bow, the inner part of the Bell, from the lower ring to the top. 1857 in J. Timbs Year-bk. Facts 109 A bell of the usual proportions, in which the thickness of the upper or thin part is one-third of the sound-bow or thickest part. |
| 1875 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, *Sound-box. 1906 E. W. Scripture Exper. Phonetics 16 Experiments made on gramophone sound boxes indicate the necessity of changing the prevalent view of such vibrating diaphragms. |
| 1946 Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. LVII. 928 The velocity of propagation of sound decreases, due to the temperature decrease, from the surface to 4000 feet and then increases, due to pressure increase, from there to bottom. This type of velocity pattern is known as a *sound channel. 1972 M. G. Gross Oceanogr. vii. 200 This sound channel is a typical feature of the open ocean at depths of around 1000 meters at midlatitudes to near the surface in polar regions. |
| 1947 Sun (Baltimore) 5 Aug. 6 (Advt.), You travel all the way by the same luxurious Panagra DC-6..air-conditioned and *sound-conditioned for your comfort! 1972 Fortune Jan. 8e/2 *Sound conditioning assures privacy in these garden apartments. |
| 1909 Moving Picture World 10 July 56/1 (Advt.), Yerkes & Co... Manufacturers of high grade *sound effects for moving pictures. 1911 D. S. Hulfish Cycl. Motion-Picture Work II. 191 The orchestra comprises pianist and drummer, and a ‘sound effect’ man. 1928 Exhibitor's Herald & Moving Picture World 28 Apr. 21/2 The experts of Victor..will..arrange for the synchronized orchestration and sound effects for this picture, in which airplane battles will have an important part. 1942 Partridge Usage & Abusage 298/1 Passing over such obviousness as bang, crash, hiss..we see that imitation is most effective when the echoism and sound-effects extend over a succession of words. 1951 W. Empson Structure of Complex Words 412 Rebuke is prim, apparently from the sound-effect. 1958 Listener 25 Dec. 1091/3 The studio managers who twiddle the knobs and the sound-effects engineers. 1966 Ibid. 24 Feb. 284/1 A meteorite passed across the sky and produced a brilliant light, together with sound effects. 1972 P. Black Biggest Aspidistra i. iv. 36 Producers deplored the attention their ingenuities received, but the public was and is fascinated by sound effects. |
| 1837 Pitman (title), Stenographic *sound-hand. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 832/2 *Sound-house, a marine alarm station from which audible alarms or signals are given in foggy weather. |
| 1932 B.B.C. Year Bk. 1933 365 (caption) Eel grass for *sound-insulation sandwiched in walls of pumice concrete. 1969 Gloss. Acoustical Terms (B.S.I.) 49 Sound insulation, means taken to reduce the transmission of sound. |
| 1874 H. Bendall tr. Schleicher's Compar. Gram. 12 Vowel *sound-laws (i.e. influence of vowels and consonants on vowels) were not existent in the original Indo-European language. 1911 L. Bloomfield in Jrnl. Eng. & Gmc. Philol. X. 629 Synonymous words might be collected to prove almost any desired sound-law. 1974 R. Quirk Linguist & Eng. Lang. i. 3 There are good historical reasons..for our firmly associating it [sc. ‘language’] with..‘sound-laws’. |
| 1871 Kennedy Public Sch. Lat. Gram. 4 *Soundlore treats of the sounds and relations of Letters and Syllables. |
| 1928 Sci. Abstr. A. XXXI. 39 Discusses the differences between physical and physiological intensity of sound and describes a form of *sound meter for technical use. 1974 Physics Bull. Oct. 481/2 Dawe Instruments..has introduced the type 1400H sound⁓meter which uses a ceramic microphone... Sound levels as low as 24 dB can be measured. |
| 1934 Rep. Departmental Comm. Statutory Definition & Classification of Firearms & Ammunition 44 in Parl. Papers 1934–5 (Cmd. 4758) VIII. 871 There is procurable an appliance known as a silencer or *sound moderator which can be fitted to almost all types of firearms for the purpose of reducing the noise of the explosion of the cartridge. 1953 W. G. B. Allen Pistols, Rifles & Machine Guns xiii. 172 Silencers are not permitted by law on privately owned weapons, but a ‘sound moderator’ may be used providing the appropriate endorsement is made on the..Certificate... The only sound moderators on sale are for .22 in. weapons. 1976 Shooting Times & Country Mag. 16–22 Dec. 47/1 (Advt.), Erma Emi semi-automatic carbine,..sound moderator, 'scope. |
| 1916 Sci. Abstr. B. XIX. 514 (heading) *Sound pressure. 1930 Jrnl. Sci. Instruments VII. 113 The response at a particular frequency is measured by the e.m.f. developed by the microphone per unit sound pressure per unit area. 1976 Acustica XXXV. 255/1 The transfer function is subtracted from the harmonic analysis of sound pressure to produce the source spectrum. |
| 1969 R. Petrie Despatch of Dove i. iv. 64 Have you ever seen a *soundprint of your own voice? |
| 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 46/1 Movable *Sound-proof Partitions for dwelling-houses, schools, &c. 1894 Daily News 2 May 3/3 Each of the class rooms..is made as far as possible sound proof. |
| 1932 Times Educ. Suppl. 20 Aug. 321/4 The divisions between class-rooms are *soundproofed with eelgrass quilting. 1956 N. Mailer Man who studied Yoga in New Short Novels II. iv. 19 Scream my little one. It will do you no good. The walls are soundproofed. 1978 C. Tomlinson Shaft 39 The sighs that in a giant building rise up trapped between its sound⁓proofed surfaces. |
| 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 83/2 Models showing application of ‘Silicate Cotton’ for fireproofing and *soundproofing. |
| 1978 J. B. Hilton Some run Crooked ii. 17 They've learned to be radio mechanics, asdic operators, *sound-rangers and flash-spotters. |
| 1919 Sci. Amer. 17 May 509/1 Both parties to the late conflict excited their ingenuity..to improve methods of *sound-ranging, on land and in the air and at sea. 1934 T. E. Lawrence Let. 19 Mar. (1938) 793 Research..to develop the art of sound-ranging, and anti-aircraft gunnery. 1973 J. Quick Dict. Weapons & Mil. Terms 407/3 Sound ranging, a method of locating the source of a sound, such as that of a gun report or a projectile burst, by calculations based on the intervals between the reception of the sound at various previously oriented microphone stations. |
| 1968 Time 4 Oct. 6 In this collection, he proved his mastery of the subtle colors, treacherous rhythms, and delicate contrapuntal lines that fashioned Debussy's impressionistic *soundscapes. 1973 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 22 Sept. 5/5 The world soundscape project..counted horn blasts at intersections around the world. 1977 Times Lit. Suppl. 11 Feb. 144/3 A small number of jazz musicians have..gravitated towards the soundscapes of Varèse and Stockhausen. 1977 Guardian Weekly 18 Sept. 18/1 The ‘soundscape’, Schafer's word to describe our sonic environment, the day-to-day background of our auditory experience. |
| 1911 L. Armitage Introd. Study Old High German ii. iii. 57 OHG is distinguished from all other W. Gmc. languages by a series of Sound-changes affecting its consonant system, which are usually grouped together under the name of the Second or HG. *Sound-Shift. 1922 O. Jespersen Language ii. 43 The first book in the 1822 volume [of Grimm's Grammatik] contains..his exposition of the ‘sound shift’ (lautverschiebung), which it has been customary in England since Max Müller to term ‘Grimm's Law’. 1965 C. F. Hockett Sound Change 192 What then of the neat discrete ‘speech sounds’ of the comparativists? Even more, what of their ‘sound shifts’? |
| 1880 A. H. Sayce Introd. Sci. Lang. I. iv. 324 Practically the *sound shiftings [in the Semitic dialects] are confined to the sibilants. 1908 J. Wright O.E. Grammar 100 The first sound-shifting, popularly called Grimm's Law, refers to the changes which the Indo-Germanic explosives underwent in the period of the Germanic primitive community. 1945 R. K. Potter in Science 9 Nov. 470/2 The beat of the heart may be recorded slowly and converted to the *sound spectrogram form by high speed reproduction. 1974 Sci. Amer. Mar. 86/3 The sound spectrograms of Infant A's cries looked exactly like what we have come to regard as being typical of a normal infant. |
| 1945 Science 9 Nov. 465/1 The patterns..were made by an instrument that we have called the *sound spectrograph. 1977 Time 21 Mar. 64/3 The most striking evidence came from a sound spectrograph, a machine that reduces speech to electronic ‘pictures’ called spectrograms or voiceprints. |
| 1947 R. K. Potter et al. Visible Speech i. 4 A *sound spectrographic record of the words ‘Visible Speech’ is shown in Fig. 3. 1976 Word 1971 XXVII. 57 Sound-spectrographic and cineradiographic analysis of neonatal cry and crysound. |
| 1948 Language XXIV. 4 That we have reached a crucial point in the development of phonemics is clear from the first published results of *sound spectrography. 1962 Amer. Speech XXXVII. 67 Surgical study..using synchronized cineradiography and sound spectrography. |
| 1953 K. H. Jackson Lang. & Hist. in Early Britain ii. 558 A possible case of pre-lenition b *sound-substituted by AS. ƀ. |
| 1898 Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc. XXIX. 38 It is not always easy to say where *sound-substitution ceases and natural speech begins. 1926 L. Bloomfield in Language II. 164 Whoever speaks a foreign language or dialect may in it substitute resemblant features of his native speech... Linguistic substitution of phonemes is sound-substitution. 1959 A. Campbell O.E. Gram. 200 In early loan-words this would arise by the operation of native sound-changes, but in later ones sound-substitution might produce similar results. 1964 R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics 14 The onomatopoeic and ‘*sound-symbolic’ part of language is of great significance. 1977 Word 1972 XXVIII. 318 A new polar response pair with no relevance to the sound to be considered for membership in one of the sound-symbolic semantic clusters in a phonetic-symbolism experiment. |
| 1901 H. Oertel Lect. Study Lang. 328 It would..embrace the attempts at word-painting and *sound-symbolism. 1922 O. Jespersen Language 396 The idea that there is a natural correspondence between sound and sense, and that words acquire their contents and value through a certain sound symbolism, has at all times been a favourite one with linguistic dilettanti. 1957 R. W. Zandvoort Handbk. Eng. Gram. ii. ii. 111 Thus a man's club by the side of a men's club; a woman's college by the side of a women's college. This seems to be to some extent a matter of ‘sound-symbolism’: the singular forms are preferred because they have a more ‘manly’ sound. 1977 G. W. Hewes in D. M. Rumbaugh Language Learning by Chimpanzee i. 48 Sound-symbolism may be explicable on the basis of mouth-gesture. |
| 1932 Kipling Limits & Renewals 81 The door was shut; and it's *sound-tight for reasons connected with the last nights of the condemned. |
b. In combinations referring to the mechanical or electrical transmission, broadcasting, or reproduction of sound, as
sound boom,
sound broadcasting,
sound-crew,
sound engineer,
sound man,
sound negative,
sound programme,
sound radio,
sound record,
sound recorder,
sound recordist,
sound source,
sound studio,
sound system,
sound transmission;
sound-recording vbl. n. and
ppl. adj.;
sound-reproducing ppl. adj.;
sound archive, a library in which sound recordings are preserved;
sound-book disused, a book supplied with gramophone records to supplement the text;
sound camera Cinemat. (see
quot. 1959);
sound check colloq., a test of sound equipment before a musical performance to ensure that the sound production is correct;
sound-film Cinemat., a cinematic film with accompanying recorded sound (see also
quots. 1923, 1929);
sound gate Cinemat., the part of a sound head where the sound track is scanned as the film passes through it;
sound head Cinemat., the part of a film projector concerned with producing an electrical signal from the sound track (see also
quot. 1959);
sound-mix: see
mix n.2 2;
sound mixer see
mixer 1 c; hence
sound-mixing vbl. n.;
sound picture = sound-film above; also, any recording of an auditory event;
Soundscriber, a machine for the recording and subsequent reproduction of the spoken word (a proprietary term in the
U.S.);
sound shop, a shop which sells equipment for playing, reproducing, or recording music;
sound stage, a stage having acoustic properties suitable for the recording of sound (
spec. one used for filming);
sound stripe Cinemat., a narrow band of magnetic material on the edge of a film, which contains the sound track;
sound-thief slang, an expert in ‘bugging’ or the installation and operation of concealed microphones;
sound track Cinemat., the sound constituent of a film, recorded on the edge of the film stock as either an optical or a magnetic band; also, such a record independent of the film;
freq. attrib.; also
fig.; hence
sound-track v. trans., to provide with a sound track; to serve as a sound track for;
sound truck, (
a)
= loud-speaker van s.v. loudspeaker 2; (
b) (see
quot. 1959
2).
| 1962 (title) BBC sound archives recorded programmes library World War 1939–1945. 1977 Times 16 May 7/5 In July the Sound Records Department of the Imperial War Museum will be opening to the public... Some have been acquired from..the..BBC sound archives. |
| 1937 Discovery Feb. 61/2 Songs of Wild Birds. By E. M. Nicholson and L. Koch. With gramophone records... It is the first sound-book published in Britain. 1938 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Dec. 805/2 The sound-book..seems to be catching on. 1975 Country Life 13 Feb. 390/2 Ludwig Koch.. conceived the idea of a sound-book—‘a combination of text, picture and sound, the last supplied by gramophone records attached to the book’. |
| 1961 G. Millerson Technique Television Production i. 14 Another camera and sound boom have taken over. |
| 1929 Television Jan. 10/3 (caption) The Baird Company's Concert Party and Engineers, photographed in the sight and sound broadcasting studio in Long Acre. 1940 R. S. Lambert Ariel & all his Quality vii. 183 The coming of War, which would make sound broadcasting..indispensable..would sound the death-knell of television. 1958 Listener 21 Aug. 260/1 One must not imagine that sound broadcasting will fail to be of value to the community for many years to come. 1977 Sound broadcasting [see television broadcasting s.v. television 3 b]. |
| 1904 Science Siftings 26 Mar. 353/1 A wonderful camera that will photograph noises... With this sound camera, all noises..can be realistically reproduced. 1958 New Statesman 26 July 106/1 ITN's roving reporter, Robin Day, roved as far as Egypt with sound⁓cameras. 1959 W. S. Sharps Dict. Cinematogr. 130/2 Sound camera. (1) A film picture camera that makes no external noise in operation and is therefore suitable for use when sound is being recorded. (2) A camera that records sound on film. 1976 Oxf. Compan. Film 646/1 Optical sound cameras are now used only to produce negatives for making married prints of finished films. 1977 Rolling Stone 13 Jan. 10/1 He runs his hands through his straw-thatched hair as his new band kicks off the sound check with ‘You Wear It Well’. |
| 1961 K. Reisz Technique Film Editing xii. 185 Having chosen his topics, the producer must get together his unit—cameraman, editor, script-writer and the sound-crew. 1974 A. Morice Killing with Kindness ii. 14 It was some American production they were recording over here... He and the rest of the sound crew had been given Tuesday off. |
| 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 101 Sound effect..refers to the diabolical work of the sound man or, with greater dignity, the sound engineer. 1973 J. Porter It's Murder with Dover iv. 34 The TV cameraman..lowered his camera... A nearby sound engineer agreed. |
| 1923 Mod. Wireless I. 418/2 The successful production of such a sound record upon a separate film, the sound-film and the picture-film being run simultaneously. 1927 Daily Mail 2 July 8/2 The sound-film of the Walker-Milligan fight which was made by the British Phonofilm Co. 1929 Times 30 July 13/2 Contrasting ‘dialogue films’, which, in imitation of the stage, depend principally on dialogue to tell their story, with ‘sound films’, which use sound as a supplement to silent technique. 1957 Manvell & Huntley Film Music 9 We have tried to show how the first principles of sound film music composition were developed through the imaginative collaboration of composers and film-makers. 1964 N. Marsh Dead Water vi. 162 A badly-synchronised sound-film. 1975 G. Howell In Vogue 65/2 Sound came in 1927, and by the end of 1928 the worst sound film could outdraw the best silent movie. |
| 1931 G. F. Jones Sound-Film Reprod. 12 The film must pass through the sound gate at a uniform speed, in order that the pitch of the music or speech shall not vary. 1960 O. Skilbeck ABC of Film & TV 61 The sound gate is the corresponding point—though here the film is in constant flow—in a sound camera or head. |
| 1931 S. K. Wolf in L. Cowan Recording Sound for Motion Pictures xx. 289 (caption) Schematic diagram of Western Electric sound head. 1959 W. S. Sharps Dict. Cinematogr. 131/1 Sound head,..the mechanism in a film printing machine that is concerned with the printing of the sound track. 1979 Amat. Photographer 10 Jan. 88/1 The sound heads are well screened to reduce hum level and are only brought into contact with the film when the projector is set to ‘forward, sound’. |
| 1929 N.Y. Times 20 Oct. ix. 8/5 Playback..provides a means for the director, the actors and the sound men to determine in general how a scene will sound immediately after it has been taken. 1935 S. W. Pring tr. L. Sabaneev's Music for Films vi. 93 The volume of sound emitted is regulated, not by the conductor, but by the soundman in the monitor room. 1971 D. E. Westlake I gave at Office (1972) 12 At noon the engineer and the sound man and the director and I would all leave The Hub. |
| 1932 Sound-mix [see mix n.2 2]. 1971 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 25 Dec. 44/1 It was necessary to add quite a lot of traffic noise on the final sound mix. |
| 1938 Sound mixer [see cut v. 21 e]. 1972 D. Francis Smokescreen i. 9 The sound mixer took off his ear-phones..and fiddled..with the knobs on his Nagra recorder. 1977 Times 18 Apr. (Gramophone Suppl.) p. iv/6 The controls of the sound-mixing console. |
| 1929 N.Y. Times 20 Oct. ix. 8/6 Soup, the developing bath in which a sound negative is developed. |
| 1928 Times 24 Dec. 28/1 Either British acoustics or the Anglo-German mechanism will presumably be installed in the Gaumont houses, to the exclusion of U.S. sound pictures. 1955 Radio Times 22 Apr. 47/3 A recorded sound picture of the Dutch people's struggle to win new land from the sea. 1979 J. Gardner Nostradamus Traitor xi. 37 There was a clean sound picture from almost every part of the flat. |
| 1955 Radio Times 22 Apr. 1 Radio Times..BBC Sound and Television Programmes. 1966 R. Williams Communications (ed. 2) iii. 68 There are more emphatic differences in the distribution of interests in the various BBC sound programmes. |
| 1938 K. Baily in Radio Times 21 Oct. 12/2 With a sound radio system that is chiefly a utility service, and in which listeners are participating, the ultimate fusion of vision with sound will be easily achieved. 1952 Times 1 Jan. (Rev. of 1951) p. v/2 Sound radio (wireless declined farther towards archaism) has done much during the year. 1971 M. Lee Dying for Fun xxiii. 107 The sound radio producer was supervising the recording of an interview. |
| 1900 R. S. Baker Boy's Bk. Inventions vii. 258 The cylinder on which the sound pictures or records were to be made was covered with tin foil. 1977 Sound record [see sound archive above]. |
| 1957 J. S. Huxley Relig. without Revelation (rev. ed.) vii. 171 The invention of the gramophone and the sound-recorder. 1961 L. van der Post Heart of Hunter i. i. 30 Charles Leonard, the mechanic who was also our sound recorder..would like nothing better than to go on recording Bushman music and folklore. |
| 1871 Eng. Mechanic 17 Nov. 233/1 In sound-recording, I do not think that electro-magnetism would be of much service. 1931 Electronics Apr. 587/1 (heading) Effects of optical slits in variable area sound recording. 1933 Chem. Abstr. XXVII. 50/3 (title) Discharge lamp for use with sound⁓recording apparatus. 1967 A. L. Lloyd Folk-Song in Eng. i. 64 [Cecil] Sharp made the notations by ear without the controlling help of sound-recording. 1975 Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xv. 234 Another facility of value to the English department..is a sound recording studio. |
| 1958 Times 18 Feb. 5/2 Thomas Arthur Howell.., sound recordist.., Twickenham. 1977 Broadcast 4 Apr. 25/3 BBC contract news cameramen and sound recordists spelled out their growing concern over pay and conditions. |
| 1931 L. Cowan Recording Sound for Motion Pict. 387 Sound head, compartment on the projector which contains sound-reproducing systems and mechanisms for guiding and driving film. 1958 M. Kelly Christmas Egg iii. 105 Displays of perfectionists' sound-reproducing equipment. 1969 Gloss. Acoustical Terms (B.S.I.) 41 Sound reproducing system, an apparatus for re-creating sound which has been recorded. |
| 1946 Sun (Baltimore) 6 Feb. 13/1 The Soundscriber is a recording device which enables observers to describe the position and actions of their assigned horses during a race. The description can be played back immediately..and compared with the pictures of the race. 1950 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 24 Oct. 1011/2 Sound Scriber{ddd}for electric sound recording and reproducing machines... Claims use since Feb. 15, 1936. 1968 C. M. Vines Little Nut-Brown Man iv. 73 He dictated into the soundscriber, and handed to me the papers referred to in his dictation. 1972 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 24 May 21/8 Phil Barker tuning a hi-fi set (he's a salesman in a sound shop). |
| 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 247 Crossfade, a gradual mix from one sound source or group of sources to another. |
| 1931 L. Cowan Recording Sound for Motion Pict. 243 Special buildings—sound stages—had to be constructed in which recording could be carried on. 1958 [see bank n.2 10 a]. 1978 S. Sheldon Bloodline xvii. 205 Rhys brought Elizabeth to a sound stage, where they made motion pictures for research and for their world-wide advertising and products divisions. |
| 1965 Focal Encycl. Photogr. (rev. ed.) I. 1418/1 Recording live sound effects or commentary..may be done on the film actually exposed in the camera (usually containing a magnetic sound stripe) or on a tape recorder. 1979 Amat. Photographer 10 Jan. 88/1 One of the main criticisms of sound stripe reproduction has been background hiss and hum picked up at the recording stage. |
| 1929 Morning Post 24 May 12/7 There are now 17 sound-studios in New York and Long Island. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 272 Sound studio,..any room or hall which is primarily used for microphone work. Its most important properties lie in its size and its acoustics—the way in which sound is diffused and absorbed, and the reverberation time. 1964 M. McLuhan Understanding Media xxix. 296 Everyone has at some time wished he were equipped with his own sound system during a movie performance. 1977 ‘J. le Carre’ Hon. Schoolboy iii. 56 Where it was operable, he ran moles and sound-thieves in tandem..[that is], Karla had liked to back up his agent operations with microphones. |
| 1929 Photoplay Apr. 31/2 Sound track, the narrow band of space along the left side of picture film on which is printed the ribbon-like strip of light and dark lines which constitute the record from which sound is projected. 1946 G. Millar Horned Pigeon xiv. 191 He made rude sucking noises with his lips, an exaggerated sound⁓track for the scene he witnessed through the window. 1949 Sound-track vb. [see kinescope v.]. 1957 Wodehouse Over Seventy xvi. 154 This is not always the laughter of a real studio audience. Frequently, it is tinned or bottled. They preserve it on sound tracks, often dating back for years. 1968 Radio Times 28 Nov. 57/5 Excerpts from the sound-track album of Finian's Rainbow. 1977 New Statesman 2 Sept. 314/1 The mindlessly self-pitying lyrics were just about swallowable if used to soundtrack shots of Kingston's corrugated iron shanty towns. 1982 London Review Bks. IV. xxiv. 8/1 When M. Hulot's author balances a soundtrack, the human voice plays a small and outclassed part in the din of the inanimate. |
| 1935 Discovery Sept. 278/2 The ultra-short wave sound transmissions will stimulate further perfection of sound⁓reproducing apparatus. 1969 Gloss. Acoustical Terms (B.S.I.) 11 Sound transmission, the transfer of sound energy from one medium to another. |
| 1936 P. Rotha Documentary Film iv. ii. 208 Sound-trucks are essentially large and cumbersome objects. 1940 Nation 30 Mar. 432/3 Forbidding..the operation of their own sound trucks, and the presentation of their own movie. 1959 Economist 2 May 433/1 In the cities, towns and villages of Japan over the past three weeks, the days..have been rendered hideous by ‘sound-trucks’ rumbling through the streets. 1959 W. S. Sharps Dict. Cinematogr. 132/1 Sound truck, a mobile sound recording unit, usually with its own power supply. 1971 Black Scholar Dec. 56/1 The first time we went out on the soundtrucks, I was on the soundtrucks, the first leaflet we put out, I wrote, the first demonstration, I made up the pamphlets. |
Add:
[8.] [b.] sound bite orig. U.S., a brief extract from a recorded interview, statement, etc.,
usu. edited into a news report on account of its aphoristic or provocative quality;
transf., a phrase or sentence intended by its speaker to be quoted in this way.
| 1980 Washington Post 22 June l2/5 Remember that any editor watching needs a concise, 30-second sound bite. Anything more than that, you're losing them. 1983 Time 6 June 55 TV's formula these days is perhaps 100 words from the reporter, and a ‘sound bite’ of 15 or 20 words from the speaker. 1988 Independent 24 Sept. 10 This has been the election of the ‘sound-bite’... Through a crafty choice of venues and irresistible one-liners, George Bush has been relentlessly associated on the television news with simple, feel-good themes. 1989 Daily Tel. 23 Nov. 48/8, I prepared my speech to include a number of sound bites. |
▸
sound equipment n.| 1926 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 26 May a15/1 The unit costs of certain radio and *sound equipment has been reduced during the past few years. 1999 A. Desai Fasting, Feasting (2000) xvi. 170 Sudden eruptions of music from enormous pieces of sound equipment set up or transported across the campus. |
▪ IV. sound, n.4 Now
dial. (
saʊnd)
Forms: α. 5–7
sown(e, 7
soune,
sounn. β. 6
sounde,
soonde, 6–7
sownd, 5–
sound.
[var. swoun(d swoon n.] 1. A swoon or fainting-fit. Usually with preps.
in or
into. Very common
c 1530–1650,
esp. in
to fall in a sound.
| α c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 10254 By-fore his feet fel sche doun For sorwe & care In a ded sowne. 1480 Robt. Devyll 139 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 225 So for dreade thys lady laye in a sowne. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. cxcii. [clxxxviii.] 590 She fell in a sowne, and knightes and ladyes came and comforted her. 1591 Greene Conny Catching ii. Wks. (Grosart) X. 115 Alas honest man helpe me, I am not well: and with that [he] suncke downe suddenly in a sowne. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. iii. 195 Augusta..fell down dead in a sown. 1678 Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 424 She fell in a soune and there layd. |
| fig. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. v. 178 For they beheld him, rather in a Sown, then as yet Dead in the Kings favour. |
| β 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. v. vi. in Ashm. (1652) 149 The Woman..Which oftyn for fayntnes wyll fall in a sound. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxvi. (Percy Soc.) 187 Prostrate we fell..And sodaynly we were cast in a sounde. 1559 Mirr. Mag. (1563) V iij, From a sigh he falles into a sounde, And from a sounde lyeth ragyng on the grounde. 1596 H. Clapham Briefe Bible i. 77 A man in a foming sounde, is not fit for our Table. a 1629 Hinde J. Bruen xlvii. (1641) 151 All his men were affraid, and one of them fell into a sownd. 1698 Phil. Trans. XX. 247 And so [they] came out of the Convulsive-like Motions, lying as it had been in a Sound. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xi, My Lady fell into a sound, but Sir Tomkyn drawing his sword, swore he was hers to the last drop of his blood. 1828– in Sc., Yks., Leic., and Cornw. glossaries. |
| fig. a 1569 A. Kingsmill Man's Est. ix. (1574) C vij, Lying still in the sounde of sinne and buried vp in death. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 413 When England..bereft..of vitall breath was readie through Civill Warre to sinke downe and fall in a Sound. |
b. Without article.
| 1513 Douglas æneid vii. vi. heading, Juno, persavand the Troianis byg ane town, For greif and dolour lik to suelt in sown. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. v. Argt., Belphebe finds him almost dead, and reareth out of sownd. 1621 Quarles Div. Poems, Esther (1717) 28 Tymissa (new awak'd from sound) replies, Our Castle is begirt with enemies. 1661 Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 379 He, striving too much that his voice might be heard, fell in sounn. |
2. dial. A deep or sound sleep.
| 1867 P. Kennedy Banks Boro xix. 108 We got into a heavy sound towards morning, when we ought to be thinking about getting up. |
▪ V. sound, n.5 (
saʊnd)
Also 6
sounde.
[f. sound v.2, or ad. F. sonde (Sp. and Pg. sonda) in the same senses, app. f. OE. or ON. sund sound n.1 Cf. OE. sund-ᵹyrd, -l{iacu}ne, -ráp, sounding-pole, -line, -rope.] 1. a. An act of sounding with the lead; also
fig., power of sounding or investigating.
rare.
| 1584 B. R. tr. Herodotus ii. 70 b, At euery sounde with the plummet, you shall bringe vppe great store of mud [etc.]. a 1624 Bp. M. Smith Serm. (1632) 168 Man hath but a shallow sound, and a short reach, and dealeth onely by probabilities and likely-hoods. |
b. A sounding-line or -lead.
It is possible that
sonde in
Chaucer's Dreme 1149 is to be taken in this sense.
| c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 19 Ho! Pilot, cause cast out the sound.., And try how deepe wee draw. |
† 2. A hole or excavation.
Obs.—1| 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 581 The Rhodians..sunke divers deepe sounds in many places of the citie neere unto the wals, to discover the enemies mines. |
3. Surg. An instrument for probing parts of the body, usually long and slender and having a slightly enlarged end.
| 1797 M. Baillie Morb. Anat. (1807) 319 The disease may be ascertained by the introduction of the sound into the urethra. 1809 S. Cooper Dict. Pract. Surg. 453/1 Having previously introduced a metallic instrument, called a sound, into the bladder, and plainly felt the stone. 1846 F. Brittan tr. Malgaigne's Man. Oper. Surg. 71 Of Cauterization... Heat in the candle a finely-pointed metallic sound. 1895 Arnold & Sons' Catal. Surg. Instrum. 444 Uterine Sound and Syringe, combined. Ibid. 629 Lithotomy Sound.., auscultatory, with India-rubber tubing and ear mount. |
4. sound-line, ‘the tow-line carried down by a whale when sounding’ (
Cent. Dict.).
▪ VI. † sound, n.6 Obs.—0 [Of obscure origin; perh. an error for squid.] A cuttle-fish.
| 1611 Cotgr., Seche, the sound, or Cuttle-fish. [Hence in later Dicts.] |
▪ VII. sound obs. form of
sand n.1 and n.2▪ VIII. sound, a. (
saʊnd)
Forms: 3–4
sund(e, 4–5
sond(e, 6
soende; 3–6
sounde, 4–6
sownd(e (5
sowunde); 3–
sound (5
sount), 9
dial. soun',
zound,
zoun',
soond,
soon'.
[ME. sund, representing OE. ᵹesund i-sound a. The prefix has also disappeared in some of the Continental languages, as WFris. soun (sûn, sûnd), NFris. sünn (sünj), MDu. (eastern) sunt, sont, sond-, MLG. sunt, sund- (LG. sund; hence Da. and Sw. sund), but remains in Du. gezond, G. gesund.] I. 1. a. Of persons, animals, etc.: Free from disease, infirmity, or injury; having or enjoying bodily health; healthy, robust. Usu. predicative.
In
ME. the prominent sense was ‘unhurt, uninjured, unwounded’. The first group illustrates the frequent usage with another
adj. (or
adv.): see also
safe a. 1 b, c, and
whole a.
| (a) c 1200 Ormin 14818 Godess follc all hal & sund Comm wel þurrh Godd to lande. c 1220 Bestiary 518 Ðis fis wuneð wið ðe se grund, and liueð ðer eure heil and sund. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xxx. 89 Withoute gold other eny tresor he [man] mai be sound ant sete. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1526 God us graunte sounde and sone to mete! c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 16534 He bad god..Brynge hem thedir sound & sone. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 55 Yf thou se the puple sounde and fair. 1557 Tusser 100 Points Husb. lvi, A kow good of milk, big of bulke, hayle and sounde. 1573 ― Husb. (1878) 115 Then shall thy cattel be lustie and sound. |
| (b) a 1300 Cursor M. 4350 Þi luue me has broght to grund, Þat i mai neuer mar be sund. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 231 A stalword man and hardi, While he was sounde. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 13 Anon he com to hom,..and holpe hom soo, þat þay comen sonde to hauen. 1508 Dunbar Poems iv. 10 The stait of man dois change & vary, Now sound, now seik, now blyth, now sary. 1596 Harington Metam. Ajax (1814) 47 If your hawk's casting be all black, you shall see and smell she is not sound. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 113 To take the indispos'd and sickly fit, For the sound man. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 129 A slave of a high price, of thirty yeares age, beautiful, sound, and jolly. 1722 De Foe Plague 150 They were known to be all sound and in good health. 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. x. (1809) 108, I have bought a grey gelding lately,..they assured me he was sound. 1849 R. T. Claridge Cold Water Cure 84 The sound man has purer tastes, independent of his greater self-command. 1853 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct., Here is a very fine boy, seven years of age, warranted sound. 1898 Watts-Dunton Aylwin ii. iv, A bird with a broken wing would be always more to you than a sound one! |
| absol. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxviii. (1611) 368 Sound and sicke remaining both of the same body. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 189 The muster file, rotten and sound, vppon my life amounts not to fifteene thousand pole. 1670 Baxter Cure Ch. Div. Pref. 1 There are the wise and the foolish, the sound and the sick. 1722 De Foe Plague 184 The apothecaries and surgeons knew not how to discover the sick from the sound. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam x. xxii, Some, ere life was spent, Sought..to shed Contagion on the sound. |
| fig. 1765 Francis tr. Horace, Odes (ed. 7) ii. iv. 27 Heart⁓hold [sic] and sound I laud her Charms. |
b. Const.
of or
in (the limbs, mind, etc.).
sound of all four:
cf. four a. 2 d.
| 1471 in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. Var. Coll. IV. 182 Sownde of mynde, sore wowndede, dredyng the parel of dethe. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 114 b, The Horse that is not sounde of his Feete. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vi. 27 Bardolph, a Souldier firme and sound of heart. 1636 Massinger Bashful Lover iv. i, She's sound of wind and limb. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 120 The Colt..Of able Body, sound of Limb and Wind. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. i. 109 Safe from all want, and sound in every limb. 1889 Horse & Hound 24 Aug. 516/2 Horses described as ‘good hunters’ must not only be sound in ‘wind and eyes’, but must have been hunted. 1890 Doyle White Company x, I am still long of breath and sound in limb. |
c. In the
phr. as sound as a bell. Also
fig. of the heart.
See also
roach n.1 1 b and
trout n.| 1576 Newton Lemnie's Complex. (1633) 175 They be people commonly healthy, and as sound as a Bell. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. ii. 13 He hath a heart as sound as a bell. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 621 From that time forwards, he remained well and lusty, and as sound as a Bell. 1623 J. Taylor (Water P.) New Discov. A v, Blinde Fortune did so happily contriue, That we (as sound as bells) did safe ariue At Douer. 1865 Sketches fr. Cambr. 26 As for you, however, you are as sound as a bell. 1898 Pall Mall Mag. July 306 A single man..with prospects, an' as sound as a bell,..is not to be had every day. |
d. Said of appetite, health, etc.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv, When wilfully his tasteless Taste delights In things unsavory to sound appetites. 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. iii. 52 Finde her Disease, And purge it to a sound and pristine Health. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xvi. 191 In spite of all my efforts to keep up an example of sound bearing I fainted twice on the snow. |
2. a. Of parts of the body, the constitution, etc.: Not affected by disease, decay, or injury.
Also
† to make (a wound) sound, to heal or cure.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 26925 And quils þat neunes es in wonde Es plaster nan mai mak it sond. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 266 Sche tok..Of herbes al the beste jus, And poured it into his wounde; That made his veynes fulle and sounde. 1560 Bible (Geneva) Prov. xiv. 30 A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but enuie is the rotting of the bones. 1577 B. Googe tr. Heresbach's Husb. iii. 155 You may geue them..the bones them selues broosed, which wyll make theyr teeth the sounder. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. xii. 38 The wyde wound..Was closed vp,..And euery part to safety full sound, As she were neuer hurt, was soone restor'd. 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 9 Thou art quick of hearing, thy teeth are sound. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 116 Of stature they are tall, of a sound constitution. 1750 tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 83 Coral makes sound the wasted gums. 1779 Mirror No. 67, I wished to change it while I had a sound constitution, which I owed to Nature. 1803 Med. Jrnl. X. 370 When a broken fragment of bone is driven beneath the sound contiguous part of the cranium. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xi. 122 The brain is found to be perfectly sound and normal. 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 74 Inability to lie on the sound side. |
b. Of the mind, heart, etc., with reference to intellectual or moral qualities.
Freq. in citations or echoes of Juvenal
Sat. x. 356
Mens sana in corpore sano.
| 1531 Tindale Exp. 1 John (1537) 97 It is the moost felicite that can be to haue a sounde mynde in a sounde body. 1577 Harrison England ii. xii. (1877) i. 239 They haue noted three things within their sound remembrance. 1598 Rowlands Betraying of Christ 15 Sound conscience well is said like wall of brasse; Corrupted, fit compar'd to broken glasse. 1652 Evelyn State France Misc. Writ. (1805) 56 A prince of weak fabric and constitution, but sound intellectuals. 1675 Owen Indwelling Sin ix. (1732) 111 To endeavour after a sound and stedfast Mind. 1729 Law Serious C. xi. 163 The solid enjoyments, and real happiness of a sound mind. 1780 Mirror No. 86, Since a sound mind, according to the well-known apophthegm, is in natural alliance with a sound body. 1820 Scott Monast. xxi, I must trust to good sword, strong arm, and sound heart. 1876 Trevelyan Life & Lett. Ld. Macaulay II. ix. 122 The promptings of a sound manly heart. |
c. Of a place: Morally healthy.
| 1876 C. M. Yonge Womankind xxiii. 195 Servants who have once, as young girls, been landed in a kind, sound place, where they are well cared for. |
3. a. Free from damage, decay, or special defect; unimpaired, uninjured; in good condition or repair.
| c 1290 St. Dominic 220 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 284 Þe holie manness bokes it weren.., Also sounde huy weren and druye ase huy euer er were. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. vii. (Bodl. MS.), Quyke siluer..is ful longe ikepte i colde uessels and sownde. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. xii. 357 Ther cannes styke; on hem sarmentis plie, With grapes faire & sounde aparty hie. 1555 Eden Decades ii. ii. (Arb.) 111 Of theyr soundeste plankes..they framed a newe carauel. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 65 Look that my Staues be sound, & not too heauy. 1653 Ramesey Astrol. Restored 147 The Trees are tall, sound, fruitfull, and good. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 113 All the Walls are so sound, that they seem as if they had been but lately built. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 94 Our men healthy, and our ships sound. 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. vi. (1809) 91 If the gate or stile happens to be in a sound state. 1826 Art Brewing (ed. 2) 92 You can use good sound barleys for that purpose, and reject blown, or otherwise injured, goods. 1857 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. i. 13 By means of a sound elastic cork. 1887 Jefferies Amaryllis xiii, They were all dressed better than her, and without a doubt had sound boots on their feet. |
| fig. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 415 My loue to thee is sound, sans cracke or flaw. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 612/2 They reserved theyr titles, tenures, and signioryes whole and sound to themselves. 1607 Tourneur Rev. Trag. ii. iv, Before his eyes He would ha' seen the execution sound Without corrupted favour. 1618 Fletcher Women Pleased i. iii, 'Tis but a Proverb sound, and a neck broken. |
b. Of air, liquor, or food: Not spoiled or vitiated in any way; hence, wholesome, good and strong. Also in
fig. context.
| c 1460 Play Sacram. 41 And sythe thay toke y{supt} blysed brede so sownde And in a cawdron they ded hym boyle. 1584 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 300 Neither is the ayre to bee judged sound as soon as the Plague ceaseth. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. i. 9, I haue also heard it verie crediblie reported, that a side of venison hath byn kept sound and sweet one whole month together. 1604 E. G[rimstone] tr. D'Acosta's Hist. Indies ii. xiv. 114 There is nothing more agreeable, then to inioy a heaven [= air] that is sound, sweet and pleasant. 1635 Swan Spec. M. (1643) 381 The Trout is admirable: for this is so sound in nourishment, that [etc.]. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxviii, Mrs. Bickerton..drank some sound old ale, and a glass of stiff negus. 1821 ― Kenilw. i, Having a cellar of sound liquor, a ready wit, and a pretty daughter. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 748 Sound wine in moderation. |
c. Financially solid or safe. Also (
orig. U.S.)
spec. of currency: having a fixed or stable value,
esp. based on gold. Freq. as
sound money.
| 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 17 Francis the 1...left his credite sound with the marchants, and readie money to his sonne. 1833 H. Martineau Berkeley the Banker i. i. 17 In my country, Scotland, the banks are particularly sound. 1841 J. Tyler in J. D. Richardson Messages & Papers of Presidents 1789–1897 (1897) IV. 85 The idea..of furnishing a sound paper medium of exchange may be entirely abandoned. 1879 Froude Cæsar ix. 91 He lent his money..with sound securities and at usurious interest. 1883 Daily Tel. 10 Nov. 5/4 The finances of the colony were in a sound condition. 1895 Nation 19 Dec. 438/1 He has astonished the friends of sound money. 1903 R. T. Ely Studies in Evol. Industrial Society 482 The Fabians have been in favour of what is called with us sound currency. 1938 H. V. Hodson Slump & Recovery vii. 217 The ‘sound-money’ provision that only unquestionably strong banks should be allowed to reopen. 1958 Spectator 8 Aug. 198/2 Are they now Sound Money men, after thirteen years of Tory-Socialist inflation? |
d. In proper condition for the purpose.
| 1883 Cassell's Fam. Mag. IX. 760/1 The heat may then..be reduced a little, still the oven must be ‘sound’, and kept as near as possible at a uniform temperature. |
4. a. Of things or substances: Solid, massive, compact.
† Of a wood: Dense.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xvii. (Martha) 16 Sa thik & sownd was þe wod Be-twene Arle and Avynone. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 453 Also þe Est ȝate.., þat was so hevy of sound bras þat twenty men were besy i-now for to tende it,..opened by hymself. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 17 A sphere is a round and sound body. 1577 B. Googe tr. Heresbach's Husb. 20 Hereunto you may cast ashes,..dust and other thinges raked togeather, but in the middest you must lay some sounde matter. 1825 Scott Talism. iv, A small Gothic chapel, hewn..out of the sound and solid rock. 1855 Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 212 The line..should have a naturally sound foundation of rock, well drained, and not liable to destruction from mere exposure. |
b. Of land: Dry in subsoil; not boggy or marshy. Now
dial.| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §18 Lette theym [sc. sheep] out of the folde, and dryue theym to the soundest place of the felde. Ibid. §39 He that hath noo seuerall and sounde pasture, to put his lambes vnto. 1789 T. Wright Meth. Watering Meadows (1790) 9 Its [sc. land] herbage, if coarse, is fined; its soil, if swampy, becomes sound. 1873 N. & Q. 4th Ser. XI. 57 It is a good sound heaf, with plenty of heather, and good herbage. |
† 5. Safe, secure; free from danger.
Obs.| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 492 Suppois the se was neuir so soft and sound: In that passage this ilk Edmund wes dround. |
6. a. Of sleep, etc.: Deep, heavy, profound; unbroken or undisturbed.
| 1548 Elyot s.v. Arctus, Arctior somnus, sounde slepe. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 232 He was caste into a marvelous depe and sounde slepe. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 35 This sleepe is sound indeede. 1639 N. N. tr. Du Bosq's Compl. Woman ii. 19 These slaves seeing their pretended Husbands layd in a sound sleepe, most subtilly stole away their Armes. 1673 Humours Town (1693) 2, I could scarce get one sound nap. 1709 Addison Tatler No. 97 ¶7 Their Slumbers are sound, and their Wakings chearful. 1804 Abernethy Surg. Obs. 176 His sleep was sound and undisturbed. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. ii. xi, [He] went into a sound nap. 1893 W. Forbes-Mitchell Remin. Gt. Mutiny 126, I..had a sound refreshing sleep. |
| transf. 1616 Pasquil & Kath. v. 133 Once more a blessed chance Hath fetcht againe my spirit from the sownd And languishing despaire of happinesse. |
b. Hence with
sleeper. Also as a moth-name.
For
sound = ‘sound asleep’, see
sound adv. 2 b.
| 1877 Reports Prov. 139 (E.D.D.), Pointing to brown moth, 'tis a sound-sleeper. 1898 Watts-Dunton Aylwin xv. i, I was always a sound sleeper. |
7. a. Of a solid, substantial, ample, or thorough nature or character.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Solidus, With a name of more glorious shew, then sounde value. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 567 The soile..vnderneath..drinks in much moisture..; for many a sound showre..passeth and runneth through it. 1618 Bolton Florus (1636) 132 Metellus..tooke a most sound revenge for the losse of Iuventius. a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. i. (1677) 25 It gives every considering man a sound and full conviction that [etc.]. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 437 School-friendships are not always found..permanent and sound. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 593 A light, sandy loam, whose sound dryness is acknowledged. 1863 A. K. H. Boyd Graver Thoughts Country P. 209 The greedy farmer will tell many lies to get a sound price for a lame horse. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 913 When..the attack passes off the patient makes a sound recovery. |
b. Of blows, a beating, etc.: Dealt or given with force or severity.
| 1607 Brewer Lingua iii. i, I looked for a sound rap on the pate. 1681 Dryden Span. Friar iii. ii, Just as when a fellow has got a sound Knock upon the head, they say he's settled. 1728 Ramsay Monk & Miller's Wife 246 Be sure to lend him a sound rout. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxx, The porter..started up with his club, and dealt a sound douse or two on each side of him. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos I. iv. 27 He will give you a sound beating. 1887 Hall Caine Life Coleridge i. 22 He proceeded to exterminate Voltaire by force of a flogging, which Coleridge feelingly described as sound if not salutary. |
II. 8. a. In full accordance with fact, reason, or good sense; founded on true or well-established grounds; free from error, fallacy, or logical defect; good, strong, valid.
The several groups of quotations illustrate some of the principal varieties of context.
| (a) c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. v. 1183 Youre counseyll in this is neyther saue ne sounde. 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 52 And sound advice might ease hir wearie thoughtes. 1596 Edw. III, i. i. 101 The soundest counsell I can giue his grace, Is to surrender ere he be constraynd. 1697 Dryden æneid xii. 42 Sound Advice, proceeding from a heart Sincerely yours. |
| (b) 15.. Syr Peny 117 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 166 He makyth the fals to be soende, And ryght puttys to the grounde. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 238 You know the Law, your exposition Hath beene most sound. 1600 ― A.Y.L. iii. ii. 62 Shallow agen: a more sounder instance, come. 1622 Gataker Spirituall Watch (ed. 2) 118 To passe by this, which I take to bee not all out so sound. 1653 Ramesey Astrol. Restored 36, I would fain see them pass any sound word or Argument against it. 1711 G. Hickes Two Treat. Chr. Priesth. (1847) II. 363 This rigorously exercised supremacy, which our princes have since explained into a sounder sense. 1781 Burke in Corr. (1844) II. 445 Mr. Laurens' remarks are as sound as they are acute and ingenious. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 305 There seems to have been no sound reason for this distinction. 1841 Macaulay Let. in Trevelyan Life (1876) II. ix. 118 Your objection to the lines is quite sound. 1849 ― Hist. Eng. x. II. 609 Their old theory, sound or unsound, was at least complete and coherent. |
| (c) 1598 Meres in Ingleby Shaks. Cent. Praise 24 The cleanest wit and soundest wisedome. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 14 Bubling he says is the Result of sound Reasoning. 1780 Harris Philol. Enq. Wks. (1841) 450 Strictly conformable to the rules of sound and ancient criticism. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. viii. 48 Consistent with sound philosophy. 1855 J. Phillips Man. Geol. 11 As a basis of true and sound geology. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. i. 2 The growth of sound knowledge. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 840 The patient instead of adopting the counsel of sound surgery, betakes himself to the perilous resources of quackery. |
| (d) 1697 Dryden Virgil, Life (1721) I. 72 He has solv'd more Phænomena of Nature upon sound Principles, than Aristotle in his Physics. 1836 Thirlwall Hist. Greece II. 225 It does indeed indicate..larger views, and sounder principles of policy. 1855 Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 127 Without sound general views there can be no safe practical use of any science. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. xvii. I. 244 Without expressing any opinion as to whether the policy of Protection be or be not sound. |
b. Theologically correct; orthodox.
| 1575 Gascoigne Glasse Governm. Wks. 1910 II. 66 All this I confesse also to be good & sound doctrine. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. ii. §1 It is out of doubt that..in the prime of Christian religion faith was soundest. 1609 Bible (Douay) Exod. xxviii. comm., Bishopes and Priestes must have special vertues,..sound doctrin, and band of union. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 30 Jan. 1653, He ordinarily preach'd sound doctrine. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 198 [Being] taught..sound religion sparingly enough. 1837 Pusey in Liddon Life (1893) II. i. 16 We have too much to do to keep sound doctrine..to be able to go into the question about dresses. 1858 W. Arnot Laws fr. Heaven II. xi. 95 A sound creed will not save a careless liver in the great day. 1870 J. Bruce Life Gideon xii. 218 The indissoluble connection between a sound faith and a sincere conscience. |
† c. Of a book or writing: Accurate, correct.
| 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1875) 61 The printe must be corrected after those written copies (whiche I yet holde for sounde till I maye disprove them). 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. ¶6 That Translation was not so sound and so perfect, but that it needed in many places correction. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 20 Feb. 1676, A famous..treatise against the corruption in the Cleargie, but not sound as to its quotations. |
9. Of judgement, sense, etc.: Based on or characterized by well-grounded principles or good practical knowledge.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 7 Those that are of sounder iudgement, account the husbandmen most happy. 1613 Harcourt Voy. Guiana 37 As others also of sound iudgement, and great experience doe hold opinion. 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 2 Instituted or framed according to sound reason. 1718 Free-thinker No. 75. 137 It is a Maxim of the soundest Sense. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 303 The learning which could make judicial discretion..deserving the appellation of a sound discretion. 1830 Scott Monast. Introd., By a transcendent flight, beyond sound reason and common sense. 1847 W. C. L. Martin The Ox 166/2 A skilful practitioner, whose knowledge of anatomy will enable him to act with promptness and sound judgment. 1857 Livingstone Trav. ii. 38 A most convincing proof of our sound sense. |
10. Of persons, disposition, principles, etc.:
a. Morally good; honest, straightforward.
| 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 461 Knowing that there is nothing that smelleth sweeter to the Lorde, then a sounde spirite. a 1586 Sidney Ps. xviii. vii, I walk'd his waies,..Sound and upright with him, to wickednes not bent. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., To have sound (honest, or good) Principles. 1695 Congreve Love for L. iii. iv, Mrs. Fore... You are such an universal Jugler,—that I'm afraid you have a great many Confederates. Scan. Faith, I'm sound. |
b. Sincere, true; not doubtful or disaffected in any way; trusty, loyal.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 194, I dare scarsely thinke you to be in any respect a sownde frende thereunto. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 274, I..That in the way of Loyaltie, and Truth, Toward the King..Dare mate a sounder man then Surrie can be. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 299 Little to bee feared, if the English-Irish there had sound hearts to the State. 1781 Cowper Friendship 15 The requisites that form a friend, A real and a sound one. 1817 Evans's Parl. Deb. I. 586 The great body of the labourers..in that part of the kingdom, he believed to be sound. |
c. Having a healthy national or moral tone.
| 1882 Gen. Stewart (of Garth) Sk. Highlanders, etc. II. 257 The mass of the population may, on occasions of trial, be reckoned on as sound and trust-worthy. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. iii. 130 As long as the people are sound, there is life. 1879 M. Arnold Mixed Ess., Democracy 5 One..beneficial influence,..the administration of a vigorous and high-minded aristocracy is calculated to exert upon a robust and sound people. 1902 Daily Chron. 15 Apr. 3/6 The American, too, is a ‘sound’ man, jolly good company, and no end of fun. |
11. a. Of persons: Holding accepted, approved, solid, or well-grounded opinions or views,
esp. in regard to religious belief; orthodox.
| pred. 1526 Tindale Titus i. 13 Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they maye be sounde [Gr. ὑγιαίνωσιν] in the fayth. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iii. 81 Gard. Doe not I know you for a Fauourer Of this new Sect? Ye are not sound. Crom. Not sound? 1704 Swift T. Tub Concl., A temptation of being witty, upon occasions where I could be neither wise, nor sound, nor anything to the matter in hand. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv. III. 447 The King, too, it was said, was not sound. 1874 Contemp. Rev. Oct. 708 He came from Scotland sound as a bell on the five points of Calvinism. |
| absol. 1682 2nd Plea for Nonconf. Ded. A iij b, Distinguish between Preacher and Preacher, between the sound and the unsound. |
| attrib. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iii. viii. 3 The will of God..no sound divine in the world ever denied to be [etc.]. 1626 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. I. 96 Testifying that he was a sound catholique, & had done them faithful service. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Mark iv. 20 All sound Christians are not equally fruitful. 1714 Pope Wife Bath 55 For so said Paul, and Paul's a sound divine. 1764 Wesley Let. to T. Rankin Wks. 1830 XII. 305, I hope John Cattermole (a sound man) will come and help you. 1820 Scott Monast. Introd. Ep., It would ill become me, a sound Protestant, and a servant of government.., to implicate myself [etc.]. 1882 R. G. Wilberforce Life W. Wilberforce III. vi. 169 ‘Well, but my Lord, after all, he is a very sound man!’ ‘He is indeed with a vengeance,’ said the Bishop, ‘if you mean vox et præterea nihil’. |
b. Hence
to be sound on (something).
orig. U.S. and chiefly
colloq.| 1856 Knickerbocker Mag. XLVIII. 287 A slight German accent did not prevent him from being sound, as he said, ‘on ter coose question’. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 430 Sound on the goose, a phrase originating in the Kansas troubles, and signifying true to the cause of slavery. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 267 Now, sound on the goose means simply to be stanch on the party question, whatever that may be for the moment. 1893 F. F. Moore I Forbid Banns (1899) 119 That he was sound even on a seven hours' question. |
c. U.S. (See
quot.)
| 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 266 If he has been in political life before, his record is carefully searched to find out if he is sound, that is, if he has always voted strictly with his party. |
12. Of sober or solid judgement; well-grounded in principles or knowledge; thoroughly versed and reliable.
| 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 218 As sound in iudgement as ripe in experience. 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 61 It was very difficult to be a sick Patient, and a sound Polititian, to govern the people, being personally weak. 1852 Bristed Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2) 274 Good sound scholars, but not remarkably showy or striking. 1872 Ruskin Eagle's Nest i. 3 The least part of the work of any sound art-teacher must be his talking. 1891 E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 62 You are a sound judge of poetry. |
13. Comb., as
sound-headed,
sound-hearted,
sound-minded, etc. Also
sound-heartedness and
sound-sweet adj.| 1808 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) II. vi. 205 He is judicious..and uncommonly *sound-headed. 1856 N. Brit. Rev. XXVI. 87 Henry and his Parliament, though still doctrinal Romanists, were sound-headed practical English⁓men. |
| 1608 Dod & Cleaver Expos. Prov. 84 Who thus testifie of themselues, and of all other *sound hearted Christians. 1841 Miall in Nonconf. I. 241 A sound-hearted patriot. |
| a 1853 Robertson Lect. ii. (1858) 53 The *sound⁓heartedness and right feeling of the great majority. |
| 1826 E. Irving Babylon ii. I. 140 It became a fixed and settled principle with all *sound-minded men. 1856 N. Brit. Rev. XXVI. 63 This is enough..to screen this sound-minded Calvinist from all criticism or remark. |
| 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. viii. 208 The most *sound-sensed man of the group. |
| 1591 Sylvester Ivry 459 Wks. (Grosart) II. 251 Their Leach that fain would cure their harm Applying many *sound-sweet Med'cines fit. |
| 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 8 They..were the *soundest winded subiects. |
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. 86 To poynt out..what maner of thyng the profession of monkes was..: so as the *soundwitted reders may iudge by the comparison. |
▸
colloq. and
regional (chiefly
Irish English and
Brit.). In weakened use (of things or persons): good, reliable; impressive, excellent; enthusiastically admired or approved of. Also as
int.: okay, good.
An element of the more specific senses ‘in good health’ and ‘honest, straightforward’ is often still present in this sense.Earliest in
sound as a pound (
Liverpool colloq.).
| 1988C. Johnston Anfield Rap (transcription of song) in www.liverpoolfc.tvc (O.E.D. Archive) Alright Aldo Sound as a pound I'm cushty la but there's nothing down The rest of the lads ain't got it sussed. 1991 R. Doyle Van 197 ‘Okay’, he said... ‘Sound,’ said Jimmy Sr. 1993 Mixmag Apr. 54/1 One of our favourite clubs in the country. Sound house and garage. 1994 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 27 Nov. 29 The thought of 41-year-old Maude, described enthusiastically as ‘sound as a pound’ by a former colleague, taking over this key role brings immense satisfaction to those who appreciate his Right-wing credentials. 1996 Sunday Express 11 Aug. (Expresso) 10/2 We were rescued by two sound geezers who only drove us 20 miles, but they saved our lives. 2000 N. Griffiths Grits (2001) 120 Sound. No problem... Yis can rent the newer one. |
▪ IX. sound, adv. (
saʊnd)
Also 5
sounde,
sownde, 6
sownd.
[f. sound a.] † 1. Without harm or injury; in safety or security; safely.
Obs.| a 1400–50 Alexander 5532 How he miȝt seke doun sounde in-to þe see bothom. c 1400 Destr. Troy 652 So may ye surely & sounde to myselfe come. c 1450 Holland Howlat 774 He gart thaim se..Sound saland on the se schippis of towr. |
2. to sleep sound, to enjoy deep, unbroken, or undisturbed sleep; to be in a profound sleep.
| a 1400 Octavian 72 When y am to bedd broght, Y slepe but selden sownde. 1513 Douglas æneid vii. Prol. 111 On slummyr I slaid full sad, and slepit sownd. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 42 So sound he slept, that nought mought him awake. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack i, Among the coal⁓ashes where I slept..as sound, and as comfortably as ever I did since. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch V. 224 Fulvius slept so sound after his wine, that [etc.]. 1852 Thackeray Esmond ii. v, Some night he begins to sleep sound. |
| phr. 1711 Ramsay On Maggy Johnstoun x, I trow I took a nap,..As sound's a tap. 1727 Gay New Song of New Similes vi, But she, insensible of that, Sound as a top can sleep. |
b. sound asleep, sunk in sleep; fast asleep. Also with ellipse of
asleep.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. v. 8 How sound is she a sleepe? I must needs wake her. 1821 Scott Kenilw. i, He may be found sound asleep on his feather-bed. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxiii, Asleep she did fall, sound as a church. 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scot. vii. (1855) 81 ‘Sound as a watchman,’ [he] hears nothing. 1891 A. Gordon Garglen ii. 54 How can you say all this, when you were sound as a trooper? |
3. In a sound manner; heartily, soundly.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. iv. 61 Let the supposed Fairies pinch him, sound, And burne him with their Tapers. |
b. In various combs., as
sound-judging,
sound-thinking;
sound-set,
sound-stated, etc.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. i. Eden 302 Man (having yet spirit sound-stated) Should dwel elswhere, then where he was created. 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 342 The sound set man..still keepeth his way. 1817 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. ii. 72 A set of quiet, unpretending, but sound⁓judging country gentlemen. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xii, Laws which certain profound and sound-judging philosophers have laid down. 1873 Ld. Dufferin in A. Lyall Life (1905) I. vii. 227 My real sympathies were..with the sound-thinking portion of the nation. |
▪ X. sound, v.1 (
saʊnd)
Forms: α. 4
sune, 4–5
sone,
sovne, 4–6
soun(e,
sown(e. β. 5–6
sounde, 5–7
sownd(e, 5–
sound.
[ad. OF. suner, soner (mod.F. sonner), = Prov. and Sp. sonar, Pg. soar, It. sonare:—L. sonāre, f. sonus sound.] I. intr. 1. a. Of things: To make or emit a sound.
Frequently with adverbial or adjectival complement.
| α a 1325 Prose Psalter xlv[i]. 3 Þe waters souned, and ben trubled. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 10 As I..lokede on þe watres, I slumberde in a slepyng, hit sownede so murie. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 73 Water organs þat sowneþ by ayer and water. c 1450 Merlin x. 154 Where as thei herde the trompe sowne. 1486 Bk. St. Albans d iij, And thay be brokyn thay wyll sowne full dulli. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon liii. 181 Trompettes & taboures began to sowne. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Lituus, Strepunt litui, the trumpettes sowne. |
| β 1483 Cath. Angl. 350/1 To sownde, strepere. 1530 Palsgr. 726/1 This bell soundeth a mys. Ibid., This horne sowndeth meryly. 1579 Poore Knights Palace E iij, Whose harpe did sound almost the silent night. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Amb. 33 The Trumpet alwaies sounding when the meat was carried up. 1749 Gray Installat. Ode 35 But hark! the portals sound. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxiii, Presently the castle-clock struck twelve, and then a trumpet sounded. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. iii. note, No other drum but theirs was allowed to sound on the High Street. 1845 J. Coulter Adv. in Pacific xiv. 193 In still weather, you will hear them [war-conches] for miles, they sound so loudly. 1877 Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. x. 120 From the cathedral tower the vesper bell was beginning to sound. |
b. To resound (
to,
with, or
† of something); to be filled with sound.
| 13.. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xxiii. 515 Of whos herying sounen..Heuene, Erþe and See. c 1475 Partenay 4718 A meruelus cry vp he cast þat stound, All the toure souned when he fill to ground. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 177 All sounded of lamentation through⁓out every narrow lane. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxxi, The great hall of the Castle..sounding to strains of soft and delicious music. a 1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. iii. (1878) 117 It is one of the noblest languages that the earth has ever sounded with. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xxii, The street sounds to the soldiers' tread. |
c. Of instruments: To give a call or summons
to arms, battle, etc. Also without subject.
| 1705 J. Robins Hero of Age ii. ii. 3 Now first is beat the General Alarm, Now sounds to Horse. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 68 The trumpets sounded to horse. 1825 Scott Talism. vii, When the trumpet sounds to arms, my foot is in the stirrup as soon as any. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv. III. 419 The peal of a trumpet sounding to battle. |
2. Of persons:
a. To make a sound by blowing, or playing upon, some instrument.
| 1382 Wyclif Lev. xxv. 9 Thow shalt sowne with trompe the seuenthe moneth. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. (1868) 4 The mynstrellys..that sowned at the feste. 1576 Gascoigne Kenelw. Castle Wks. 1910 II. 92 Sixe Trumpetters..who had..Trumpettes counterfetted, wherein they seemed to sound. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. i. 69 b, They doe sound vpon a thing very like vnto a Cittern. 1609 Bible (Douay) 1 Chron. ii. 55 The kinredes also of the scribes..singing and sounding [L. resonantes]. 1687 Wood Life 2 Nov., Soldiers and trumpeters..drinking healths, and every health they sounded. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Siticines,..those who sounded upon a sort of Trumpet..at their Funeral Solemnities. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xl, ‘What! sound for aid,’ exclaimed the Knight, ‘against a score of such rascaille as these’. 1859 Tennyson Geraint & Enid 382 Enid..thought she heard the wild Earl..Sound on a dreadful trumpet. |
| fig. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest Introd. A iij b, The verie Instrument which I nowe sound of, is not as I would it were. |
† b. To utter vocal sounds; to speak, cry, or
sing. Obs.| c 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxvi. 16 Many men þat first sownyd, gaynsaiand til goed lare, sithen ware broght till soth⁓fastnes. c 1500 Lancelot 1811 ‘Welcum be he!’ and so the puple soundith. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 185 Let us honour him (sounding continually with mouth and mind). 1595 Spenser Col. Clout 20 Sith thy Muse..Was heard to sound as she was wont on hye. |
c. to sound off. (
a) Of a band: to strike up (see also
quot. 1909). Also
imp. U.S. Mil.| 1909 Webster s.v. sound, to sound off. Mil., at a certain point in the ceremony of parade or guard mounting in the United States army, to play, usually marching in quick time from right to left of the line and back:—said of the band or field music. 1919 Review (N.Y.) 30 Aug. 350/3 The organization of all possible ‘errors’ in the use of language into categories and hierarchies, and parading them before classes with all the pomp of ‘Sound off!’ and ‘Pass in review!’. 1936 Amer. Speech XI. 61 The adjutant commands, ‘Sound off!’ and the band marches, playing, back and forth before the stationary troops... And so,..when a man talks loud and long, playing the tune of his own thoughts before uninterested comrades, he is said to be sounding off. |
(
b) to speak out, to speak loudly; to complain, protest; to brag; to put forward one's opinion,
esp. forcefully and at length.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1918 G. E. Griffin Ballads of Regiment 39 You low-down, dirty rookey! What in blazes do you mean By sounding off and beefing, not a rag upon you clean. 1920 Amer. Legion Weekly 13 Aug. 28 (caption) Sounding off. But he is sounding off before inspection. You can't blame him because he has been hoping and waiting for the Weekly..but it hasn't come. 1935 C. G. Finney Circus of Dr. Lao 63 Kate, don't go sounding off that way in front of all these people. 1939 J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath xiii. 174, I didn' mean to sound off at ya, mister. It's the heat. 1943 Amer. Mercury Nov. 554 A guy who sounds off (talks too much) is told to knock it off. 1951 Sunday Pictorial 21 Jan. 10/2 The ‘Pic’ cites a few examples with the sincere wish that someone will shut them up the next time they sound off. 1960 L. Cooper Accomplices ii. i. 80 He used to sound off about the chap and blackguard him all ends up. 1972 ‘E. Lathen’ Murder without Icing (1973) xxii. 195 We thought he was just sounding off. 1979 ‘A. Hailey’ Overload iv. ix. 340 It adds up to him being an exhibitionist with a need to ‘sound off’ constantly, even in small ways. |
3. a. To strike the ears, to be heard, as a sound. Also with
in (one's)
ears and with
adjs. or
advs.| α 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1670 Er þenne þe souerayn saȝe souned in his eres. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 275 ‘What have I to doo þerwiþ,’ quod he, ‘wheþer þis noyse sowne upward oþer dounward’. a 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. i. 64 Pleinly þo eres are blessid, þat takiþ non hede to þe voice sounyng outwarde. 1485 St. Wenefryde (Caxton) 9 A voys from heuen souned in his eres. 1548 Elyot, Assono,..to sowne..agayn lyke to an Ecco. 1568 Interl. Jacob & Esau iv. ix, The voice of Jacob sowneth in mine eare. |
| β 1530 Palsgr. 726/1 Harke howe her voyce sowndeth scyrle in the ayer. 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 229 Names consisting vpon two or three sillables (especially sounding vpon the french) be most honourable. 1632 Milton Penseroso 74, I hear the far-off Curfeu sound. 1640 in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 109 This is the newes that sounds merrily in our eares. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xii, A din, proceeding from the revels.., sounded half-way down the street. 1823 ― Quentin D. xxx, As if the words of an oracle sounded in his ears. 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley i, The strange passion..making her voice sound shrill and piercing. |
b. To issue
out as, or with, a sound.
| 1526 Tindale 1 Thess. i. 8 From you sounded out the worde of the lorde. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. iv. ii, For always, as it sounds out ‘at the market-cross’, accompanied with trumpet-blast. |
c. To be mentioned or spoken of.
| 1635 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 7 Now the daily newes of the future bridegroome began to sound. 1832 Disraeli Cont. Fleming i. vii. (1853) 26 Wherever I went my name sounded, whatever was done my opinion was quoted. 1842 Borrow Bible in Spain xxxiv, The name of Flinter had long sounded amongst the Carlist ranks. |
d. Black English.
= to play the dozens s.v. play v. 16 e;
to sound on (someone): to taunt, to criticize (someone).
Cf. sense 13 below.
| 1962 R. D. Abrahams in Jrnl. Amer. Folklore LXXV. 215 When men do ‘sound’..it provides a very different kind of release than when adolescents do. 1971 B. Malamud Tenants 73 I'm not soundin on you, Lesser, but how can you be so whiteass sure of what you sayin if my book turns out to be two different things than you thought? 1972 W. Labov Language in Inner City p. xxii, Johnny..had a curious bald spot on the top of his head several months ago, since grown over, and he is still sounded on regularly by reference to this bald spot. 1973 E. Bullins Theme is Blackness 107 Hey..baby..why you got to sound on me like that? 1974 H. L. Foster Ribbin', Jivin', & Playin' Dozens iv. 160 He knows how to ‘run a game’, to ‘signify’, to ‘woof’..and to ‘sound’. |
4. a. To convey a certain impression or idea by the sound; to appear to have a certain signification when heard (or read).
| α c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 678 In non other place..Feele I no wynde that souneth so lyke peyne; It seith ‘Allas! why twynned be we tweyne?’ c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. v. 27 My feeling in thilk mater is other wise than the speche sowneth. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 1554 Þai..red þe text als it sounes. 1533 Tindale Supper of the Lord D iij b, They so vnderstode hym, and he so ment as his wordes sowned. 1538 Starkey England i. ii. 63 Hyt sounyth veray yl..to gyue such powar to blynd fortune in mannys felycyte. |
| β 1445 in Anglia XXVIII. 273 Of ripe thyngis which sounde sadly thou techist men right aged. ? 1530 Tindale Exp. Matt. v. 43 To turne y⊇ other cheke is a maner of spekynge and not to be vnderstand as the words sound. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iv. 7, I tell you 'twill sound harshly in her eares. 1639 Fuller Holy War i. ix. (1840) 14 Whose entreaties in this case sounded commands in the ears of such as were piously disposed. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxviii. 239 Which soundeth as if they had said, he should come down [etc.]. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 314 This may the better be believed..because Diodorus himself hath some Passages sounding that way. 1789 T. Twining Aristotle's Treatise on Poetry 216 To call them a slip, would indeed sound strangely. 1815 Scott Guy M. ix, That sounds like nonsense, my dear. 1825 ― Betrothed xiv, Their very names sound pagan and diabolical. 1851 Landor Popery 47 This sounds oddly to unmitred ears; but much may depend upon the sounding⁓board. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 71 That sort of talk sounds big, but is in fact puerile. |
b. To have a sound suggestive
of something.
| 1646 Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. Pref., Controversial writings (sounding somewhat of drums and trumpets). |
† 5. To have a suggestion or touch of, a tendency towards, some connexion or association with, a specified thing.
Obs. Used with a variety of constructions:
a. With
in (see also 6),
into,
to (or
unto),
towards, etc.
The use with
to is very common in the 15–16th centuries.
| (a) c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 6079 Þat day, sal na man be excused Of nathyng..Þat sounes in ille on any manere. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 307 Sownynge in moral vertu was his speche. 1399 Rolls of Parlt. III. 451/2 The Answers of thes Lordes..souned in her entent in excusation of hem. |
| (b) c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 1036 Me were lever to dy, Than she of me oght ellis understode, But that that myghte sownyn into good. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 226 Whatever þei speken or don it sounneþ in to pees and charite. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1947 Write him no thyng þat sowneth in-to vice. c 1456 Pecock Bk. of Faith (1909) 137 Bi a meene sownyng into this, that God never revelid thilk article. |
| (c) c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 306 Gabbyngis & other iapis þat sounen not to charite. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. x. 216 To meschief hit souneþ. 1440 in Wars English in France (Rolls) II. 452 He ne hath nought so doen..withoute notable causes sownyng to the wele of him and of his people. 1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert 96 All þat he spak was soundyng on-to grete profit of vertuous gouernauns. 1530 Palsgr. 726/1, I promise you that this matter sowndeth moche to your dishonour. 1558 G. Cavendish Poems (1825) II. 5 Most men have no pleasour or delight In any history, without it sownd to vice. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. vi. (Arb.) 164 The meane matters..which sound neither to matters of state nor of warre. 1602 W. Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 75 When the action soundeth to disceit. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Chester (1662) 291 If the Testators Will were not justly performed, it soundeth to the shame and blame of his Executors. |
| (d) 1513 Douglas æneid xi. Prol. 49 The first soundis towart virteu sum deyll. 1535 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. II. 343 Certayne words..sowndinge towards thavauncement of the Bysshoppe of Rome. 1614 Brerewood Lang. & Relig. 65 In all the Hebrew writings of the Bible, that countrey is never termed by any name sounding toward Phœnicia, but in the Greek only. a 1643 Ld. Falkland, etc. Infallibility (1646) 90 This surely sounds somewhat toward a testimony of Apostolick Tradition. |
| (e) 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. ii. §1 It is their endeavour to banish..from their cogitation whatsoever may sound that way. |
† b. With simple objective, or
of.
Obs.| (a) c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 353 Þis sownes not charite but luciferes pride. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 275 Hise resons he spak ful solempnely, Sownynge alway thencrees of his wynnyng. 1482 Monk of Evesham xxxi. (Arb.) 74 They that spake wordis of reboudye the whiche sounned onclenesse. |
| (b) 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xii. 79 Is no wit worth now bote hit of wynnynge soune. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 13 Odious billes and language,..sounyng of insurreccion and rebellion against the kinges peace. |
† c. With
against,
with, or
for.
Obs.| (a) c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xiii. 71 Therfore it is no nede me forto..encerche the writingis of Doctouris sownyng aȝens mi present entent. 1471 Sir J. Fortescue in Wks. (1869) 531 It sownyth gretly ayen the kinges old title to his roialme of Fraunce. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 88 Examyne all such thingis as sowne wyth or ayenst the comon wele. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. ii. ii. (1602) 112 Not meerelie a spiritual offence, but mixed, and sounding some⁓what against the Peace of the lande. |
| (b) 1502 [see prec.]. 1578 Banister Hist. Man i. 24 He alloweth this to sound with truth. 1639 Ld. Digby Lett. conc. Relig. (1651) 36 How this will sound with that place of St. Austin upon the 98. Psalm. |
| (c) 1563 Homilies ii. Agst. Idol. ii. ii. 56 No sentence in the old doctours and fathers soundyng for Images, ought to be of any aucthoritie. 1578–9 Reg. Privy Council Scot. Ser. i. III. 84 A new consait, not altogidder sounding for the necessitie of the caus. |
6. to sound in damages: in legal use, to be concerned only with damages. Also
to sound in tort,
to sound in contract, etc.
| 1780 M. Madan Thelyphthora II. 153 There is not one [change] which does not sound in damages, as our lawyers speak. 1798 Bay's Reports (1809) I. 16 The discount law only extended to liquidated accounts and not to matters sounding in damages. 1885 Law Rep. 30 Chanc. Div. 21 This covenant did not create a specifically ascertained debt, but only a claim which sounded in damages. 1918 Law Rep. Appeal Cases 289 Whether it sounds in debt or in damages such a cause of action implies a present obligation to pay simultaneous with its coming into existence. 1947 Law Rep. 23 Aug. 466 An action against a salvor for negligence or misconduct sounds in tort. 1964 Mod. Law Rev. XXVII. iii. 264 To juggle with the language of the forms of action and say that the plaintiff's action sounds in tort not contract, cannot alter the fact that the line between liability and non-liability is drawn by seeing whether the act..is, or is not, a breach of contract between two other persons. 1972 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 24 Oct. 20/4 While the action sounds in contract, the complaint sets forth two causes of action for unliquidated amounts. |
| transf. 1865 Pall Mall G. 16 May 1 His conclusion seems to us..to ‘sound in’ morality. 1865 Fraser's Mag. Nov. 539 It is that the whole book ‘sounds’, as the lawyer would say, in persuasion, not in conviction. |
II. trans. 7. To cause (an instrument, etc.) to make a sound; to blow, strike, or play on.
| a 1300 K. Horn 209 (C.), Horn þu lude sune Bi dales & bi dune. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 565 A baggepipe wel koude he blowe and sowne. c 1440 Partonope 3755 The mynstrallys here Trumpes gan sowne. 1474 Caxton Chesse ii. iv. (1883) 53 Therfore Joab ordeyned whan absalon was slayn he sowned a trompette. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xciii. 299 He sowned the watch belle. 1554 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 176 That no maner of person..sounde eny drume for the gatheringe of eny people within the said Citie. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. xv. 99 b, [They] afterwardes doe sounde all their belles togeather. 1586 Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. i. i, Sound vp the trumpets then. c 1614 Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas i. 184 Mariners..Their chearful whisles meryly do sownd. 1741–2 Gray Agrip. 121 Or say we sound The trump of liberty. 1794 A. Russell's Aleppo (ed. 2) ii. ii. I. 155 Very few of the performers [on the syrinx] can sound it tolerably well. 1806 Wordsw. Horn Egremont Castle 112 A long posterity..Sounded the Horn which they alone could sound. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. i. ii. 33 A bell is sounded in foggy weather. 1896 Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 615/1 The driver of the approaching train began to sound his whistle. |
| transf. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 5 Whom farre before did march a goodly band Of tall young men, all hable armes to sownd. |
8. a. To utter in an audible tone; to pronounce or repeat. Sometimes implying loudness of voice. Also with
forth or
out.
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 22485 Na word þai sal þo queþer sune, Til þat þai be all fallen dune. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 573 To yow rehercyn al his speche, Or alle his woful wordis for to sowne. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 4413 Wher hys fate was..openly to him declaryd, In greke and hebrew tonge sovnyd. c 1477 Caxton Jason 38 b, Alle the maronners tremblid for drede in suche wyse that they durste not sowne a worde. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 250 b, She could soune the salutacion so often recited unto hir. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 89 Hearing these tearmes of hell and eternall, so often souned in our eares. |
| β c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xv. 83 Lorde, þou sowndyst [L. intonas] thi domes upon me. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 69 This man malicious..Nought els soundeth but the hoorse letter R. 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) I. 9/1 He commaundeth all bishops and priestes to sounde out their seruice..with a loud voice. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 185 Thou giuest as it were a sigh, which all thy companions..seeme by thee to sounde also. 1684 Contempl. St. Man ii. v. (1699) 173 Those Millions of Angels, which will be sounding forth their Hallelujahs. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xx, Hearken..to one note of reason, ere it is sounded into your ear by the death-shot of ruin. |
b. To reproduce or express in words.
rare.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 105 Al be that I kan nat sowne his stile. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. ii. 126 No words can that woe sound. |
c. To utter or pronounce in a certain way.
| 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes B iv b, Augrym for Algorisme, as Arabians sound it. 1611 Cotgr. Appendix, E, when it is thus accented, e,..is called é Masculine, and sounded out, as in the Latine word docére. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 16 Their words are sounded rather like that of Apes, then men, whereby it's very hard to sound their Dialect. 1736 Ainsworth Latin Dict. ii. s.v. C, Neither ought it [the letter c] to be sounded with an aspirate, as the modern Italians do. 1844 Kinglake Eothen vii, I suppose it is scarcely now to be doubted that they were so sounded in ancient times. |
9. a. To give intimation of, a signal or order for, (something) by the sound of a trumpet or other instrument; to announce, order, or direct by such means. Also
fig. or in
fig. context.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 326 The watchmen..perceyued well howe that the Castell was scaled and betrayed, and so sowned in a Trumpet Trahey, Trahey. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 77 With shril brasse trumpet Misenus sowned alarum. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iii. §56. 288 They at their discretion cause alarms or retraits to be sounded. 1673 S'too him Bayes 11 All this is but hanging forth a picture and sounding a call. 1697 Dryden Dedic. æneid Ess. (Ker) II. 237 Our author seems to sound a charge, and begins like the clangour of a trumpet. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. I. 392 The besieged sounded a retreat. 1789 J. Williams Min. Kingd. I. 160, I feel in myself a strong reluctance against sounding the alarm to my country in a matter of so much importance. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 90 As if he were sounding a charge with a tin whistle. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xxii, The trumpets sounded the attack. 1893 W. Forbes-Mitchell Remin. Gt. Mutiny 260 Bugles were sounding the assembly. |
b. To blow (a blast).
| 1806 Wordsw. Horn Egremont Castle 16 The blast, Which good Sir Eustace sounded, was the last. 1817 Shelley Pr. Athanase 186 When winter's roar Sounded o'er earth and sea its blast of war. |
10. To declare, announce, proclaim; to make known or famous; to celebrate.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. 2815 Whan þat þe cok..Þe mydnyȝt hour..Be-gan to sowne. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. iv. 295 Also this present processe sowneth..that Crist here clepid this ȝong man into apostilhode. 1576 Gascoigne Kenelw. Castle Wks. 1910 II. 115 O Muses sound the praise of Jove his mighty name. 1590 Greene Orl. Fur. Wks. (Rtldg.) 90 Swift fame hath sounded to our western seas The matchless beauty of Angelica. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. vii. (1623) 531 In pulpits and priuate conferences, sounding nothing but the Crosse and Passion of Christ. 1659 Hammond On Ps. 2 But David..sounds Christ upon the harp. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 193 Nations unborn your mighty names shall sound. 1725 ― Odyss. ix. 20 Earth sounds my wisdom, and high heav'n my fame. 1777 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 27 Oct., Of this great truth, sounded by the knowing to the ignorant,..what evidence have you now before you. 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 306 To him The Sabbath bell sounds peace. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 155 The Tories still continued..to sound the praise of a national militia. |
† 11. Of words: To signify or mean; to import or imply.
Obs.| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. i. §21 Zodia in langage of grek sownyth ‘bestes’ in latyn tonge. 1422 J. Capgrave in Life S. Aug., etc. 147 The vij son of Iacob,..hite Simeon, whech soundith in our tonge heuynesse or pencifnesse. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 63 For caer, after the langage of Britones, sowndethe a cite. a 1470 H. Parker Dives & Pauper (W. de W. 1496) vii. lxvi. 283 Stelynge sowneth comonly theeft and robbery, and somtyme it sowneth preuely takynge without wyttynge of the lorde. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 279 b, For sapere in latyn tonge, soundeth as moche in englysshe as to sauour taste or fele. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 32 b, Lenocinium, whiche souneth in englishe enticyng & alluryng. 1627 W. Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. (1629) 134 Mysterium commonly sounds a Religious secret. 1654 tr. Martini's Conq. China 106 The Sirname of Pingsi, which sounds as much as ‘Pacifier of the Western world’. 1671 H. M. tr. Erasm. Colloq. 200 Among the Latines discere to learn, sounds not as much as doctrinam accipere, to receive learning. |
12. To examine (a person, etc.) by auscultation; to subject to medical examination.
| 1817 Ld. Sefton Let. 30 Dec. in Creevey Papers (1903) I. xii. 268 It was put into my hand while a surgeon was sounding my bladder..to ascertain whether I had a stone or not. 1887 in Cassell's Encycl. Dict. |
13. To taunt.
Cf. sense 3 d above.
U.S. slang. rare.
| 1958 H. E. Salisbury Shook-up Generation iv. 63 He had heart. He would do things no other boy would dare. He would sound a cop on the beat and run away laughing. |
▪ XI. sound, v.2 (
saʊnd)
Also 5–6
sownd(e,
sounde; 5
sone,
soune, 6
sowne.
[ad. OF. sonder (Sp. and Pg. sondar), f. sonde sound n.5] † 1. intr. To sink in, penetrate, pierce.
Obs.| 13.. Coer de L. 405 He smote hym on hys basinet A grete dente withouten let; It sounded to hys cheke bone. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 533 So sore hath she me woundid..That to myn hertis botme it is ysounded. c 1400 Destr. Troy 495 With a Sykyng vnsounde, þat sonet to hir hert. Ibid. 5284 Hit sothely with sorow sounys to my hert. |
2. a. Naut. To employ the line and lead, or other appropriate means, in order to ascertain the depth of the sea, a channel, etc., or the nature of the bottom. Also
fig. (
quot. 1663).
| c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1397 Her is a fayer haven to se! connyngly In, loke þat ye sownd. 1530 Palsgr. 726/1 Sownde, mariner, let us se what water we have to spare. 1555 Eden Decades i. ix. (Arb.) 97 Soundinge with theyr plummet they founde it to bee .xvi. fathames deepe. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 60 There sounding with our plummet, sand of Amber stuck thereto. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 505 To make them dip themselves, and sound For Christendom in dirty Pond. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 331 Men went overboard with poles in their hands, sounding, as we call it, for deeper water. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xxx, A man leaped into the chains, and lowering down the lead, sounded in seven fathoms. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxiv. 236 We were compelled..to sound ahead with the boat-hook. |
| transf. 1649 Lovelace The Scrutinie iii, Like skilfull Minerallists that sound For Treasure in un-plow'd-up ground. 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 25, I sounded with the ramrod, and finding the charge still in the barrel, forthwith complied with Ben's request. 1972 Science 5 May 464/1 Lightweight ionosondes have been placed in satellites, and these sound from the height of the satellite..down to the peak of the F layer. |
b. fig. To make inquiry or investigation.
| 1793 Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 23 They have sent commissioners to England to sound for peace. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Sutherl. I. 33, I have sounded carefully, and happen to know that I am correct in my information. 1825 Carlyle Life Schiller i. (1845) 16 His thoughts..had sounded into the depths of his own nature. |
3. a. Of the lead: To go down; to touch bottom.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 56 And deeper then did euer Plummet sound Ile drowne my booke. 1837 Marryat P. Keene xxxviii, When sixteen fathoms were out the lead sounded. |
b. Of a whale: To go deep under water; to dive.
| 1839 Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale (ed. 2) 164 The whale suddenly disappears; he has ‘sounded’. 1845 J. Coulter Adv. in Pacific vii. 86 The whale did not, as usual, sound, but after the breach, made off. 1887 Goode Fisheries U.S. 265 If the whale sounds, the crew lay by awaiting its reappearance upon the surface for respiration. |
| transf. 1895 Outing XXVII. 223/2 Away sped my salmon,..and again sounded to the bottom and sulked. |
4. a. trans. To investigate (water, etc.) by the use of the line and lead or other means, in order to ascertain the depth or the quality of the bottom; to measure or examine in some way resembling this.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. iii. 438 Now the water will I sownd. 1557 Burrough in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 327 Sunday I sounded the barre of Zolatitsa, which the Russes tolde me was a good harborow, but in the best of it I found but 4. foote water. 1584 B. R. tr. Herodotus ii. 76 Psammetichus..sounding the waters with a rope of many miles in length, was vnable to feele any ground or bottome. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xiii. 159 It is so deepe in some places that it cannot be sounded. 1685 Travestin Acc. Siege Newheusel 33 August the third, we sounded the Ditch, and found on the East side four foot of water yet left. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xi. 258 Our boats..were ordered out..to sound the harbour and its entrance. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. ii. 249 They sound the well, and..Along the line four wetted feet appear. 1836 Penny Cycl. V. 266/1 Persons..whose regular business is to sound the bed of the river. 1863 [W. F. Campbell] Life in Normandy I. 110 He..found a muddy man sounding a hole with the butt end of a driving whip. |
| transf. 1581 A. Hall Iliad ix. 171 The wine they weakly sounde, On earth the rest they throwe. 1639 N. N. tr. Du Bosq's Compl. Woman i. 56 Laocoon who tooke his Lance in his hand to sound this Machine, was punished for his Curiositie. |
b. To measure (depth) in this way.
| 1628–9 Digby Voy. Medit. (Camden) 89 We haled out fore sailes vpon the backestayes and sounded the depth of the water. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 1151 To sound the depth with a sounding line. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Sounding, Dr. Hook has invented a manner of Sounding the Depth of the deepest Sea, without any Line. |
c. With
out: To survey by means of soundings.
| 1860 Maury Phys. Geogr. 3 To organize and set on foot..a plan for ‘sounding out’ the ocean with the plummet. |
5. In
fig. contexts: To measure, or ascertain, as by sounding.
| 1589 Nashe Anat. Absurdity Wks. (Grosart) I. 70 Beginning to sound the infinite depth of these misteries. a 1601 Pasquil & Kath. (1878) i. 319 If you haue any weight of judgement, you may easily sound what depth of wits they draw. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xiv. 412 His wealth is so deep a gulf, no riot can ever sound the bottome of it. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 467 And who can sound the depth of David's Soul? 1739 Wesley Hymn, ‘And can it be’ ii, In vain the first-born seraph tries To sound the depths of Love Divine. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 318 He soon sounded the depth of my character. 1847 Tennyson Princ. ii. 159 Two plummets dropt for one to sound the abyss Of science. 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xi. 276 His mind intellectual plumb hath never yet sounded. |
| refl. 1802 Wordsw. Sonn. Liberty v. 13 Happy is he, who..can sound himself to know The destiny of Man. |
6. a. To approach (a person) with conversation or inquiries intended to elicit his opinion or feeling on some matter; to examine or question in an indirect manner. Also with
out.
| 1575 Fenton Gold. Epist. (1582) 233 Sounding them, she remayned iudge of their wittes and opinions. 1598 Bacon Ess., Of Negotiating (Arb.) 90 It is better to sound a person..a farre off, then to fal vppon the pointe at first. 1619 Visct. Doncaster in England & Germany (Camden) 118 According to the Comandement I receyved from your Ma{supt}{supi}⊇ I have endevored to sound this Prince your sone. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 205 Another time about the punishment of adultery they came to sound him. 1713 Addison Cato i. iii, I've sounded my Numidians, man by man, And find 'em ripe for a revolt. 1755 Washington Lett. Writ. 1889 I. 216, I wish you would sound him on this head. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. li, He sounded Butler on this subject, asking what he would think of an English living. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 402 Russell opened the design to Shrewsbury. Sidney sounded Halifax. 1885 Manch. Exam. 21 July 4/6 Foreign financial agents..have been privately and unofficially sounded on the subject. 1944 E. S. Gardner Case of Careless Kitten ii. 21 He..wants someone to sound out Aunt Matilda on how she'll feel. 1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 230 Japan was sounding out Russia for her help in negotiating a conditional surrender. 1960 News Chron. 25 Feb. 1/2 He had sent a three-man mission to Madrid to sound-out the Spanish. |
b. To investigate, to search into, to seek to ascertain (a matter, a person's views, etc.),
esp. by cautious or indirect questioning; to make trial of in this way. Also with
out.
| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 281/1 We must beare with many faultes,..and not sounde out matters of most rigorous sorte. 1596 Drayton Legends ii. 128 Yet sought he then the King's intent to sound. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Wars iv. 92 By his Letters sounding the inclination of the Duke and Dutchess. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 700 The false Arch-Angel..casts between Ambiguous words..to sound Or taint integritie. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) VII. xvii. 141 He therefore thought it prudent to despatch an embassy in order to sound their dispositions. 1755 Washington Lett. Writ. 1889 I. 159, I should be glad if you could sound their pulse upon the occasion. 1823 Lamb Elia ii. Old Margate Hoy, He was none of your hesitating, half story-tellers..who go on sounding your belief. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. III. xii. 4 Cardinal Granvelle was instructed to sound the disposition of Francis. |
c. To find
out by investigation.
rare—1.
| 1596 Lodge Wits Miserie & World's Madn. N iiij, Yet as subtill as they [sc. fiends] are, I haue sounded them out, and..know them. |
† 7. To understand; to fathom.
Obs.| 1592 Kyd Sp. Trag. i. v. 24, I sound not well the misterie. 1631 Heywood Fair Maid of West i. iii. i, Besse. Captaine she is thine owne. Goodl. I sound it not. 1655 Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 173 The fleete is said to be gone to sea, but wee cannot sound the designe. |
8. Surg. To examine by means of a sound,
esp. for the stone;
† to probe.
| 1597 [see sounding vbl. n.2 4]. 1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat, David Repent. xvii. (1867) 224 Nathan, than whom was none more skilled..with a searching tent To sound the sore. 1738 Phil. Trans. XL. 372 But the Night following the Pains return'd, which made him resolve to come to Lisle, to be nearer at Hand to be sounded. 1830 S. Cooper Dict. Pract. Surg. (ed. 6) 814 The patient being sounded after the fourth [operation] by one of the most dextrous lithotomists in Paris. 1891 Moullin Surg. 1209 In sounding a bladder a definite plan should be followed. |
▪ XII. † sound, v.3 Obs. [f. sound a.] 1. trans. To make sound or whole; to heal.
| c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 242 Noon othir helpeþe my soores for to sounde. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. 2705 So mortally, þat þer may no salue Her sores sounde. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. cxli. (1869) 73 Thee needeth..a Surgien to sounde and counfort ayen the senewes that ben brused. |
2. intr. To become sound; to be healed or cured.
| c 1402 Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. xlii, Through-girt with many a wounde That lykly are neer for to sounde. ? a 1412 ― Two Merchants 227 My bollyng festrith, that it may nat sounde. |
▪ XIII. sound, v.4 Now
dial. (
saʊnd)
Forms: α. 4
sounye (9
soony), 4–6
soune, 6
soun, 9
soon; 5
sownyn, 5–6
sowne, 6–7
sown. β. 6
sownde, 6–7
sounde, 6–
sound (6
sund, 8
dial. soond).
[var. of swoune swoon v. Cf. sound n.4] intr. To swoon, to faint.
| α 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 58 ‘Consummatum est,’ quaþ Crist and comsede for to sounye. Ibid. xxiii. 105 Many a louely lady..Sounede and swelte for sorwe of deþes dyntes. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas i. ix. (1554) 19 b, Full oft in the day Jocasta gan to sowne. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vi. xvi. 209 Thenne she souned as though she wold dye. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 73 If in this meane whyle the woman faynte or sowne by reason of greate payne. 1591 Greene Conny Catching ii. Wks. (Grosart) X. 116 The gentleman euen now..sownd here. 1642 H. More Song of Soul iii. iii. 49 This accursed earth; Whose dull suffusions make her often sown, Orecome with cold. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 1152 To sown or swoon, or to fall in a swoon. 1888– in dialect glossaries, etc. |
| β 1480 Robt. Devyll 232 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 228 Many olde folkes he caused to sounde. 1530 Palsgr. 726/1 Let me nat be by whan you let hym blodde, for I shall sownde than. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 72 Euphues was surprised with such increadible ioye..that he had almost sounded. 1624 Ld. Kpr. Williams in Fortescue Papers (Camden) 204, I am still ready to sound at the very thought of any meate. 1678 A. Behn Sir Patient Fancy ii. ii, Oh! I shall sound with the apprehension on't. 1706 Estcourt Fair Example i. i, Cards and Dice are her perpetual Diversion, tho' she knows I sound at the very sight of 'em. 1755 Mem. Capt. P. Drake I. xv. 150 At this my poor Brother, who was close to the Bar, sounded away, and fell down motionless. 1797 A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl (1813) V. 252, I thoft as she would have a sounded at that. 1828– in dialect glossaries (Yorks., Northampt.). |