What does fathom measure

Britannica English: Translation of fathom for Arabic Speakers. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of fathom Entry 1 of 2. Definition of fathom Entry 2 of 2. Did fathom Always Refer to a Measurement? Examples of fathom in a Sentence Noun The water here is five fathoms deep. Verb the pilot had to continually fathom the river, which drought conditions had lowered to unprecedented levels.

First Known Use of fathom Noun before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1 Verb , in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1. Learn More About fathom. Time Traveler for fathom The first known use of fathom was before the 12th century See more words from the same century.

Listen to Our Podcast About fathom. Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox! Sign Up. From the Editors at Merriam-Webster. As part of a land vehicle, a shackle is a link connecting a leaf spring to the frame. A nautical unit used for measuring the lengths of the cables and chains especially anchor chains , equal to 15 fathoms, 90 feet or Why is a mile feet?

The notion of the mile comes from Roman times. The Romans used a unit of distance called the mille passum "a thousand paces". In , Parliament set decided that each mile should be made up of eight furlongs. Since a furlong was feet, we ended up with a 5,foot mile. How do you measure a mile? Now that you know the stride of your step in feet, you can calculate a mile. There are 5, feet in one mile.

Simply divide 5, feet by your average stride length to learn how many steps it will take to walk a mile. How long is a cables length? Cable length. A cable length or length of cable is a nautical unit of measure equal to one tenth of a nautical mile or approximately fathoms.

Due to anachronisms and varying techniques of measurement, a cable length can be anywhere from to metres, depending on the standard used. What is the difference between a nautical mile and a mile? Both are units of distance, but are derived and used differently. On land, a mile is a length of 5, feet. In air and sea travel, a nautical mile is a length equal to one minute of arc around the sphere of Earth.

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