sounding

noun

1. The action of the verb to sound.

   “And thus did the trumpets sound one-and-twenty blasts every day; […] three soundings at the three pausings of the music, […]”

   “In the course of his soundings, Sir Herbert Walker had heard favourable reports of O.V.S. Bulleid, currently Principal Assistant to Gresley on the LNER.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A test made with a probe or sonde.

   “Soundings showed wide variations in depths of water, and from the dredgings of the bottom came new types of sediment […]”

   “Morning sounding at Chatham showed dry adiabatic lapse rate all the way to 700 mb this morning […]”

3. (countable, uncountable)A measured depth of water.

   “The sailor took a sounding every five minutes”

4. (countable, in-plural, uncountable)Any place or part of the ocean, or other water, where a sounding line will reach the bottom.

   “We'll rant and we'll roar across the salt seas; Until we strike soundings in the Channel of old England”

5. (countable, uncountable)The sand, shells, etc. brought up by the sounding lead when it has touched bottom.
6. (countable, uncountable)The act of inserting of a thin metal rod into the urethra of the penis for medical or sexual purposes.(See urethral sounding).

adj

1. (not-comparable)Emitting a sound.

   “The sounding bell woke me up.”

2. (not-comparable)Sonorous.

   “sounding words”

   “In her tomb by the sounding sea.”

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of sound

   “Little Mary was sounding very sleepy, so I tucked her in bed.”

   “"Assist"'s sense ‘to be present (at a ceremony, entertainment, etc.)’, now uncommon and sounding affected, is a Gallicism.”