sound

Etymology 1

From Middle English sound, sund, isund, ȝesund, from Old English sund, ġesund (“sound, safe, whole, uninjured, healthy, prosperous”), from Proto-West Germanic *sund, 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”). Related also to Dutch gezwind (“fast, quick”), German geschwind (“fast, quick”), Old English swīþ (“strong, mighty, powerful, active, severe, violent”). See swith.

adj

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.
   on the 29th of September 1840, in consideration that the plaintiff, at the request of the defendant, had bought of the defendant a certain horse, at a certain price, to wit, 30l., the defendant promised plaintiff that the horse did not exceed five years off, and that it was sound in wind and limb, perfect in vision, and free from vice; […] 30 May 1842, “Roscorla v. Thomas”, in Montagu[e] Chambers, editor, The Law Journal Reports for the Year 1842, volumes XX (New Series – volume XI, part II), London: E. B. Ince, 5 Quality Court, Chancery Lane, →OCLC, pages 214–215
2. Complete, solid, or secure.
   Fred assured me the floorboards were sound.
   Refurbishing Okehampton station, kept basically sound under ownership by Devon Council, remains a work in progress and scheduled for completion next spring. November 17 2021, Andrew Mourant, “Okehampton: a new dawn for Dartmoor”, in Rail, number 944, page 43
3. (mathematics, logic) Having the property of soundness.
4. (Britain, Ireland, 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

adv

1. Soundly.

intj

1. (Britain, Ireland, slang) Yes; used to show agreement or understanding, generally without much enthusiasm.
   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- (“to sound, resound”). * 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

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.
2. A vibration capable of causing such sensations.
   In trumpets for assisting the hearing, all reverbation of the trumpet must be avoided. It must be made thick, of the least elastic materials, and covered with cloth externally. For all reverbation lasts for a short time, and produces new sounds which mix with those which are coming in. 1820, Encyclopaedia Britannica; Or A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, 6th edition, volume 20, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, page 501
3. (music) A distinctive style and sonority of a particular musician, orchestra etc.
   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. 1954, Valentine Davies et al., The Glenn Miller Story
4. Noise without meaning; empty noise.
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.

verb

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!
3. (intransitive) To be conveyed in sound; to be spread or published; to convey intelligence by sound.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To resound.
5. (intransitive, law, 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.
   […]there can be no doubt that claims brought pursuant to § 1983 sound in tort. 1999, Supreme Court of the United States, City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Montery, Ltd. et al.
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.

Etymology 3

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 *sundą (“swimming; sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem- (“swimming; sea”). Cognate with Dutch zond (“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; Long Island Sound
2. The air bladder of a fish.
   Cod sounds are an esteemed article of food.
   The head was chopped off, the belly opened, the liver set aside--sometimes along with the roe, sounds, throats, and other items. 1997, Mark Kurlansky, Cod, page 118

Etymology 4

From 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) 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 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.
3. To 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.
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

noun

1. (medicine) A long, thin probe for sounding or dilating body cavities or canals such as the urethra; a sonde.
   Most mild cases respond very nicely to such relatively simple office procedures as dilatations with sounds of increasing calibre, followed by the instillation of an ounce of 5 per cent argyrol in the bladder. 1951 January, Gordon W. Reynolds, “The Female Urethra and Chronic Urethritis”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 1, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 34