fathom

  1. Noun.  (obsolete) Grasp, envelopment, control.
  2. Noun.  (nautical) A measure of length corresponding to the outstretched arms, standardised to six feet, now used mainly for measuring depths in seas or oceans.
  3. Noun.  (context, by extension) Mental reach or scope; penetration; the extent of capacity; depth of thought or contrivance.
  4. Verb.  (transitive, archaic) To encircle with outstretched arms, especially to take a measurement; to embrace.
  5. Verb.  (transitive) To measure the depth of, take a sounding of.
  6. Verb.  (transitive, figuratively) To get to the bottom of; to manage to comprehend (a problem etc.).

This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.

This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.