fathoming

Pluralfathomings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of fathom.

   Researchers spent decades fathoming the deepest parts of the ocean.

   The crew spent the morning fathoming the channel before bringing the ship in.

   Note

   The ending goes straight on, with no doubled m. Behind the form sits a chain of meanings: a fathom is an armspan, so the verb once meant encircling something with the arms to measure it, then sounding the depth of water, and from there to getting to the bottom of a problem. In that sense it often takes out: still fathoming out how the money vanished.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of getting to the bottom of something or of measuring a depth, or a single instance of it.

   No amount of fathoming could explain why he had left without a word.

   The first charts of the bay relied on careful fathomings taken from small boats.

   Similarsounding, probing

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