Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Sounding \Sound"ing\, n.
   1. The act of one who, or that which, sounds (in any of the
      senses of the several verbs).

   2. (Naut.) [From {Sound} to fathom.]
      (a) measurement by sounding; also, the depth so
          ascertained.
      (b) Any place or part of the ocean, or other water, where
          a sounding line will reach the bottom; -- usually in
          the plural.
      (c) The sand, shells, or the like, that are brought up by
          the sounding lead when it has touched bottom.

   {Sounding lead}, the plummet at the end of a sounding line.
      

   {Sounding line}, a line having a plummet at the end, used in
      making soundings.

   {Sounding post} (Mus.), a small post in a violin,
      violoncello, or similar instrument, set under the bridge
      as a support, for propagating the sounds to the body of
      the instrument; -- called also {sound post}.

   {Sounding rod} (Naut.), a rod used to ascertain the depth of
      water in a ship's hold.

   {In soundings}, within the eighty-fathom line. --Ham. Nav.
      Encyc.