• (RP, GA) IPA: /saʊnd/

sound (comparative sounder, superlative soundest)

1. Healthy.

   He was safe and sound.

   In horse management a sound horse is one with no health problems that might affect its suitability for its intended work.

2. Complete, solid, or secure.

   Fred assured me the floorboards were sound.

   • The brasswork here, how rich it is in beams, / And how, besides, it makes the whole house sound.

3. (mathematics, logic) Having the property of soundness.
   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page vii:

     With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get{{...}

4. (British, slang) Good; acceptable; decent.

   "How are you?" - "I'm sound."

   That's a sound track you're playing.

   See that man over there? He's sound. You should get to know him.

5. (of sleep) Quiet and deep. Sound asleep means sleeping peacefully, often deeply.

   Her sleep was sound.

6. Heavy; laid on with force.

   a sound beating

7. Founded in law; legal; valid; not defective.

   a sound title to land

• French: sain
• German: gesund
• Italian: sano
• Portuguese: são
• Russian: здоро́вый
• Spanish: sano

• French: complet, solide, sûr
• Portuguese: completo, sólido, seguro
• Russian: кре́пкий

• Russian: хорошо́

• Portuguese: profundo
• Spanish: profundo

sound

1. Soundly.

   • So sound he slept that naught might him awake.

1. (British, slang) Yes; used to show agreement or understanding, generally without much enthusiasm.

   - I found my jacket.
   - Sound.

sound

1. A sensation perceived by the ear caused by the vibration of air or some other medium.

   He turned when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.  Nobody made a sound.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     The warlike sound / Of trumpets loud and clarions.

2. A vibration capable of causing such sensations.
   • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., OCLC 580270828 ↗, page 01 ↗:

     It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. […]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.

3. (music) A distinctive style and sonority of a particular musician, orchestra etc
4. Noise without meaning; empty noise.
   • 1689 (indicated as 1690)​, [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Thomas Basset, […], OCLC 153628242 ↗:

     , Book 1

     for it is the sense, and not sound, that is and must be the principle or common notion

5. earshot, distance within which a certain noise may be heard.

   Stay within the sound of my voice.

• See also Thesaurus:sound

• French: son
• German: Klang, Schall, Laut
• Italian: suono
• Portuguese: som
• Russian: звук
• Spanish: sonido

• French: son
• German: Schall
• Italian: suono
• Portuguese: som
• Russian: звук
• Spanish: sonido

sound (sounds, present participle sounding; past and past participle sounded)

1. (intransitive) To produce a sound.

   When the horn sounds, take cover.

2. (copulative) To convey an impression by one's sound.

   He sounded good when we last spoke.

   That story sounds like a pack of lies!

   • c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene ii]:

     How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues!

3. (intransitive) To be conveyed in sound; to be spread or published; to convey intelligence by sound.
   • Bible, 1 Thessalonians i. 8

     From you sounded out the word of the Lord.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To resound.
5. (intransitive, legal, often, with in) To arise or to be recognizable as arising in or from a particular area of law.
6. (transitive) To cause to produce a sound.

   Sound the alarm!

   He sounds the instrument.

7. (transitive, phonetics, of a vowel or consonant) To pronounce.

   The "e" in "house" isn't sounded.

• (to make noise) echo, reecho, resonate
• See also Thesaurus:sound

• French: sonner
• German: klingen, erklingen, lauten
• Italian: suonare
• Portuguese: soar
• Russian: звуча́ть
• Spanish: sonar

• German: klingen
• Russian: звуча́ть
• Spanish: sonar

• French: sonner de

• French: prononcer
• German: aussprechen

sound (plural sounds)

1. (geography) A long narrow inlet, or a strait between the mainland and an island; also, a strait connecting two seas, or connecting a sea or lake with the ocean.

   Puget Sound; Owen Sound

   • The Sound of Denmark, where ships pay toll.

2. The air bladder of a fish.

   Cod sounds are an esteemed article of food.

3. A cuttlefish.

• German: Sund
• Italian: insenatura
• Portuguese: enseada
• Russian: проли́в
• Spanish: estrecho, seno

sound (sounds, present participle sounding; past and past participle sounded)

1. (intransitive) Dive downwards, used of a whale.

   The whale sounded and eight hundred feet of heavy line streaked out of the line tub before he ended his dive.

2. To ascertain, or try to ascertain, the thoughts, motives, and purposes of (a person); to examine; to try; to test; to probe.

   When I sounded him, he appeared to favor the proposed deal.

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance)​​, William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene i], page 23 ↗, column 1:

     Tell me moreouer, haſt thou ſounded him,
     If he appeale the Duke on ancient malice,
     Or worthily as a good ſubiect ſhould
     On ſome knowne ground of treacherie in him.

   • I was in jest, / And by that offer meant to sound your breast.

   • 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, published 1712, [Act 1, scene 1]:

     I've sounded my Numidians man by man.

3. Test; ascertain the depth of water with a sounding line or other device.

   Mariners on sailing ships would sound the depth of the water with a weighted rope.

4. (medicine) To examine with the instrument called a sound or sonde, or by auscultation or percussion.

   to sound a patient, or the bladder or urethra

sound (plural sounds)

1. (medicine) An instrument for probing or dilating; a sonde.

• French: sonder
• German: sondieren
• Portuguese: sondar
• Russian: зонди́ровать
• Spanish: sondear

• French: tester
• Russian: зонди́ровать

sound (plural sounds)

1. A long, thin probe for sound#Verb|sounding body cavities or canals such as the urethra.

• French: sonde
• German: Sonde
• Portuguese: sonda
• Russian: зонд
• Spanish: sonda

1. The strait that separates Zealand (an island of Denmark) from Scania (part of Sweden); also sometimes called by the Danish name, Øresund.

• French: détroit du Sund