Sound

Pronunciation

• IPA: /saÊŠnd/
• Rhymes: -aÊŠnd

Alternative forms

• soune obsolete, sowne obsolete

From Middle English sound, sund, isund, ȝesund, from Old English sund, ġesund ("sound, safe, whole, uninjured, healthy, prosperous"), from Proto-Germanic *gasundaz, *sundaz ("healthy"), from Proto-Indo-European *sunt-, *swent- ("vigorous, active, healthy"). Cognate with Scots sound, soun ("healthy, sound"), Saterland Frisian suund, gesuund ("healthy"), West Frisian sûn ("healthy"), Dutch gezond ("healthy, sound"), Low German sund, gesund ("healthy"), German gesund ("healthy, sound"), Danish sund ("healthy"), Swedish sund ("sound, healthy"), Irish fétaid ("to be able"). Related also to German geschwind ("fast, quick"), Old English swīþ ("strong, mighty, powerful, active, severe, violent"). See swith.

Full definition of sound

Adjective

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.
• ChapmanThe brasswork here, how rich it is in beams,
  And how, besides, it makes the whole house sound.
3. (mathematics, logic) (argument, logical system) having the soundness property.
• Schuster Hepaticae V|viiWith 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."How are you?" - "I'm sound."That's a sound track you're playing.
5. (of sleep) Quiet and deep. sound asleepHer 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

Hypernyms

• (in logic) valid

Derived terms

Adverb

1. Soundly.
• SpenserSo sound he slept that naught might him awake.

Interjection

1. (British, slang) Yes; used to show agreement or understanding, generally without much enthusiasm."I found my jacket." - "Sound."

• Noun: from Middle English sownde, alteration of sowne, from Anglo-Norman sun, soun, Old French son, from accusative of Latin sonus.
• Verb: from Middle English sownden, sounen, from Anglo-Norman suner, Old French soner (modern sonner), from Latin sonare
• The euphonic -d appears in the fifteenth century.

Noun

1. A sensation perceived by the ear caused by the vibration of air or some other medium.Nobody made a sound.He turned when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.
• MiltonThe warlike sound
  Of trumpets loud and clarions.
2. A vibration capable of causing this.
3. (music) A distinctive style and sonority of a particular musician, orchestra etc
4. Noise without meaning; empty noise.
• John LockeSense and not sound ... must be the principle.

Synonyms

Troponyms

• noise
• quiet
• silence

Verb

1. (intransitive) To produce a sound.When the horn sounds, take cover.
2. (intransitive, copulative) To convey an impression by one's sound.He sounded good when we last spoke.That story sounds like a pack of lies!
• ShakespeareHow 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. 8From you sounded out the word of the Lord.
4. (intransitive, legal) Often with "in"; to arise or to be recognizable as arising within a particular area of law.
• 1999, Supreme Court of the United States, City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Montery, Ltd. et al., There can be no doubt that claims brought pursuant to § 1983 sound in tort.
5. (transitive) To cause to produce a sound.He sounds the instrument.
6. (phonetics) To pronounce a vowel or a consonant.The "e" in "house" isn't sounded.

Synonyms

• (to make noise)echo, reecho, resonate

Derived terms

From Middle English sound, sund, from Old English sund ("the power, capacity, or act of swimming; swimming; sea; ocean; water; sound; strait; channel"), from Proto-Germanic *sundÄ… ("swimming; sound"), from Proto-Indo-European *swem- ("swimming; sea"). Cognate with Dutch sond ("sound; strait"), Danish sund ("sound; strait; channel"), Swedish sund ("sound; strait; channel"), Icelandic sund ("sound; strait; channel"). Related to swim.

Noun

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
• CamdenThe Sound of Denmark, where ships pay toll.

Middle English sounden, from Old French sonder, from sonde ("sounding line") of Germanic origin, compare Old English sundgyrd ("a sounding rod"), sundline ("a sounding line"), Old English sund ("water", "sea"). More at Etymology 3 above

Verb

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.
• DrydenI was in jest,
  And by that offer meant to sound your breast.
• AddisonI'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 by auscultation or percussion.to sound a patient, or the bladder or urethra

Noun

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

Old English sund, a swimming, akin to modern swim.

Noun

1. The air bladder of a fish.Cod sounds are an esteemed article of food.
2. A cuttlefish.