sounding

Etymology 1

sound (“produce a sound”) + -ing.

noun

1. The action of the verb to sound.
   And thus did the trumpets sound one-and-twenty blasts every day; […] three soundings at the three pausings of the music, […] c. 1650, John Lightfoot, The Temple-Service
   In the course of his soundings, Sir Herbert Walker had heard favourable reports of O.V.S. Bulleid, currently Principal Assistant to Gresley on the LNER. 1979 August, Graham Burtenshaw, Michael S. Welch, “O.V.S. Bulleid's SR loco-hauled coaches - 1”, in Railway World, page 394

adj

1. Emitting a sound.
   The sounding bell woke me up.
2. Sonorous.
   In her tomb by the sounding sea. 1849, Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee

verb

1. present participle and gerund of sound
   Little Mary was sounding very sleepy, so I tucked her in bed.
   "Assist"'s sense ‘to be present (at a ceremony, entertainment, etc.)’, now uncommon and sounding affected, is a Gallicism.

Etymology 2

From sound (“examine with the instrument called a sound, or by auscultation or percussion”) + -ing.

noun

1. Test made with a probe or sonde.
   Soundings showed wide variations in depths of water, and from the dredgings of the bottom came new types of sediment […] 2011, John P. Rafferty, Oceans and Oceanography, page 189
   Morning sounding at Chatham showed dry adiabatic lapse rate all the way to 700 mb this morning […] 2020 June 25, National Weather Service Boston 9:52 AM forecast discussion
2. A measured depth of water.
   The sailor took a sounding every five minutes
3. The act of inserting of a thin metal rod into the urethra of the penis for medical or sexual purposes
4. (chiefly in the plural) Any place or part of the ocean, or other water, where a sounding line will reach the bottom.
   Spanish Ladies, naval song, chorus We'll rant and we'll roar across the salt seas; Until we strike soundings in the Channel of old England
5. The sand, shells, etc. brought up by the sounding lead when it has touched bottom.