Definition of sound

• n. - The air bladder of a fish; as, cod sounds are an esteemed article of food.
• n. - A cuttlefish.
• superl. - Whole; unbroken; unharmed; free from flaw, defect, or decay; perfect of the kind; as, sound timber; sound fruit; a sound tooth; a sound ship.
• superl. - Healthy; not diseased; not being in a morbid state; -- said of body or mind; as, a sound body; a sound constitution; a sound understanding.
• superl. - Firm; strong; safe.
• superl. - Free from error; correct; right; honest; true; faithful; orthodox; -- said of persons; as, a sound lawyer; a sound thinker.
• superl. - Founded in truth or right; supported by justice; not to be overthrown on refuted; not fallacious; as, sound argument or reasoning; a sound objection; sound doctrine; sound principles.
• superl. - heavy; laid on with force; as, a sound beating.
• superl. - Undisturbed; deep; profound; as, sound sleep.
• superl. - Founded in law; legal; valid; not defective; as, a sound title to land.
• adv. - Soundly.
• n. - A narrow passage of water, or a strait between the mainland and an island; also, a strait connecting two seas, or connecting a sea or lake with the ocean; as, the Sound between the Baltic and the german Ocean; Long Island Sound.
• v. t. - To measure the depth of; to fathom; especially, to ascertain the depth of by means of a line and plummet.
• v. t. - Fig.: To ascertain, or try to ascertain, the thoughts, motives, and purposes of (a person); to examine; to try; to test; to probe.
• v. t. - To explore, as the bladder or urethra, with a sound; to examine with a sound; also, to examine by auscultation or percussion; as, to sound a patient.
• v. i. - To ascertain the depth of water with a sounding line or other device.
• n. - Any elongated instrument or probe, usually metallic, by which cavities of the body are sounded or explored, especially the bladder for stone, or the urethra for a stricture.
• n. - The peceived object occasioned by the impulse or vibration of a material substance affecting the ear; a sensation or perception of the mind received through the ear, and produced by the impulse or vibration of the air or other medium with which the ear is in contact; the effect of an impression made on the organs of hearing by an impulse or vibration of the air caused by a collision of bodies, or by other means; noise; report; as, the sound of a drum; the sound of the human voice; a horrid sound; a charming sound; a sharp, high, or shrill sound.
• n. - The occasion of sound; the impulse or vibration which would occasion sound to a percipient if present with unimpaired; hence, the theory of vibrations in elastic media such cause sound; as, a treatise on sound.
• n. - Noise without signification; empty noise; noise and nothing else.
• v. i. - To make a noise; to utter a voice; to make an impulse of the air that shall strike the organs of hearing with a perceptible effect.
• v. i. - To be conveyed in sound; to be spread or published; to convey intelligence by sound.
• v. i. - To make or convey a certain impression, or to have a certain import, when heard; hence, to seem; to appear; as, this reproof sounds harsh; the story sounds like an invention.
• v. t. - To causse to make a noise; to play on; as, to sound a trumpet or a horn.
• v. t. - To cause to exit as a sound; as, to sound a note with the voice, or on an instrument.
• v. t. - To order, direct, indicate, or proclain by a sound, or sounds; to give a signal for by a certain sound; as, to sound a retreat; to sound a parley.
• v. t. - To celebrate or honor by sounds; to cause to be reported; to publish or proclaim; as, to sound the praises of fame of a great man or a great exploit.
• v. t. - To examine the condition of (anything) by causing the same to emit sounds and noting their character; as, to sound a piece of timber; to sound a vase; to sound the lungs of a patient.
• v. t. - To signify; to import; to denote.