English
sound
see also: Sound
Pronunciation
  • (RP, America) IPA: /saʊnd/
Etymology 1

From Middle English sound, sund, isund, ȝesund, from Old English sund, ġesund, from Proto-West Germanic *sund, from Proto-Germanic *gasundaz, *sundaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sunt-, *swent-.

Cognate with Scots sound, soun ("healthy, sound"), Saterland Frisian suund, gesuund ("healthy"), Western Frisian sûn, Dutch gezond, Low German sund, gesund ("healthy"), German gesund, Danish sund, Swedish sund. Related also to Dutch gezwind, German geschwind, Old English swīþ. See swith.

Adjective

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.
    • 1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer's Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC ↗; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC ↗:
      The brasswork here, how rich it is in beams, / And how, besides, it makes the whole house sound.
      The spelling has been modernized.
  3. (mathematics, logic) Having the property of soundness.
    Hypernyms: valid
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →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, Irish, 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, and 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
Translations Translations Translations Translations Adverb

sound

  1. Soundly.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, stanza 42:
      So ſound he ſlept, that nought mought him awake.
Interjection
  1. (British, Ireland, slang) Yes; used to show agreement or understanding.
    I found my jacket. — Sound.
Etymology 2
  • Noun: from Middle English sownde, alteration of soun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sun, soun, Old French son, from accusative of Latin sonus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂-.
  • Verb: from Middle English sownden, sounen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suner, sounder, Old French soner (modern sonner), from Latin sonō.
  • The hypercorrect -d appears in the fifteenth century. (Compare dialectal drownd, gownd for the same development.)

    Displaced native Middle English swei, from Old English swēġ, from Proto-Germanic *swōgiz.

Noun

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. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
      The warlike sound / Of trumpets loud and clarions.
    • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC ↗, page 88 ↗:
      Through all the Worlds are sounds, the noises of moving, and the echoes of voices and song; but upon the River is no sound ever heard, for there all echoes die.
  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 ↗, 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.
    • 1954, Valentine Davies et al., The Glenn Miller Story:
      He looks like he's got it, maybe. Listen to those kids!/There's no maybe about it. That's it, that's the sound.
  4. Noise without meaning; empty noise.
    • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of Power”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC ↗, book I, § 18, page 23 ↗:
      For let us conſider this Prepoſition as to its meaning, (for it is the ſence, 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.
  6. (phonetics) A segment as a part of spoken language, the smallest unit of spoken language, a speech sound.
Synonyms Translations Translations Verb

sound (sounds, present participle sounding; simple 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 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [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.
    • 1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC ↗, I. Thessalonians I:8, folio 95, recto ↗:
      For from you ſounded out the worde of the Lord, not in Macedonia & in Achaia onely: but your faith alſo which is towarde God, ſpred abroade in all quarters, that we nede not to ſpeake any thing.
  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, or as likely to result in a particular kind of legal remedy.
    In my opinion this claim sounds in damages rather than in an injunction.
  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.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Etymology 3

From Middle English sound, sund, from Old English sund, from Proto-Germanic *sundą, from Proto-Indo-European *swem-.

Cognate with Dutch zond, Danish sund, Swedish sund, Icelandic sund. Related to swim.

Noun

sound (plural sounds)

  1. (geography, landforms) 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; Long Island Sound
    • 1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC ↗:
      The Sound of Denmarke, where ships pay toll.
  2. The air bladder of a fish.
    Cod sounds are an esteemed article of food.
Translations Etymology 4

From Middle English sounden, from Old French sonder, from sonde ("sounding line") of Germanic - origin, compare Old English sundgyrd, sundline ("a sounding line"), Old English sund.

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) Of a whale, to dive downwards.
    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 to 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: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [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.
    • 1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1667, →OCLC ↗, Act IV, scene [i], page 40 ↗:
      I was in Jeſt: / And by that offer meant to ſound your breaſt.
    • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC ↗, Act I, scene i, page 1 ↗:
      I've sounded my Numidians man by man.
  3. To fathom or test; to 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.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii ↗:
      As when the Sea-man […] /All fearefull foldes his ſailes, and ſounds the maine,/Lifting his prayers to the heauens for aid,/Againſt the terrour of the winds and waues.
  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
Translations Translations Noun

sound (plural sounds)

  1. (medicine) A long, thin probe for sounding or dilating body cavities or canals such as the urethra; a sonde.
Translations
Sound
Etymology

From the common noun sound ("strait, inlet").

Proper noun
  1. The strait that separates Zealand (an island of Denmark) from Scania (part of Sweden); also sometimes called by the Danish name, Øresund.
  2. Synonym of Plymouth Sound, Devon, England.
Translations
  • French: Øresund, Sund
  • German: Öresund, Sund
  • Italian: Øresund
  • Portuguese: Öresund
  • Russian: Э́ресунн
  • Spanish: estrecho de Øresund, Sund


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