SOUND, a. [L. sanus.]

1. Entire; unbroken; not shaky, split or defective; as, sound timber.
2. Undecayed; whole; perfect, or not defective; as, sound fruit; a sound apple or melon.
3. Unbroken; not bruised or defective; not lacerated or decayed; as, a sound limb.
4. Not carious; not decaying; as, a sound tooth.
5. Not broken or decayed; not defective; as, a sound ship.
6. Whole; entire; unhurt; unmutilated; as, a sound body.
7. Healthy; not diseased; not being in a morbid state; having all the organs complete and in perfect action; as, a sound body; sound health; a sound constitution; a sound man; a sound horse.
8. Founded in truth; firm; strong; valid; solid; that can not be overthrown or refuted; as, sound reasoning; a sound argument; a sound objection; sound doctrine; sound principles.
9. Right; correct; well founded; free from error; orthodox. – 2 Tim. i. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes. – Ps. cxix.
10. Heavy; laid on with force; as, sound strokes; a sound beating.
11. Founded in right and law; legal; valid; not defective; that can not be overthrown; as, a sound title to land; sound justice.
12. Fast; profound; unbroken; undisturbed; as, sound sleep.
13. Perfect, as intellect; not broken or defective; not enfeebled by age or accident; not wild or wandering; not deranged; as, a sound mind; a sound understanding or reason. Sound currency, in commerce, a currency whose actual value is the same as its nominal value, and if in bank notes or other substitute for silver and gold, a currency which is so sustained by funds, that it is at any time convertible into gold and silver, and of course of equal value.

Soundly; heartily. So sound he slept that naught might him awake. Spenser.

The air-bladder of a fish.

A narrow passage of water, or a strait between the main land and an isle; or a strait connecting two seas, or connecting a sea or lake with the ocean; as, the sound, which connects the Baltic with the ocean, between Denmark and Sweden; the sound that separates Long Island from the main land of New York and Connecticut.

An instrument which surgeons introduce into the bladder, in order to discover whether there is a stone in that viscus or not. Cooper. Sharp.

The cuttle fish. – Ainsworth.

1. Noise; report; the object of hearing; that which strike the ear; or more philosophically, an impression or the effect of an impression made on the organs of hearing by an impulse or vibration of the air, caused by a collision of bodies or by other means; as, the sound of a trumpet or drum; the sound of the human voice; a horrid sound; a charming sound; a sharp sound; high sound.
2. A vibration of air caused by a collision of bodies or other means, sufficient to affect the auditory nerves when perfect. Some persons are so entirely deaf that they can not hear the loudest sounds. Audible sounds are such as are perceptible by the organs of hearing. Sounds not audible to men, may be audible to animals of more sensible organs.
3. Noise without signification; empty noise; noise and nothing else. It is the sense and not the sound, that must be the principle. – Locke.

To use the line and lead in searching the depth of water. The shipmen sounded, and found it twenty fathoms. – Acts xxvii.

1. To make a noise; to utter a voice; to make an impulse of the air that shall strike the organs of hearing with a particular effect. We say, an instrument sounds well or ill; it sounds shrill; the voice sounds harsh. And first taught speaking trumpets how to sound. – Dryden.
2. To exhibit by sound or likeness of sound. This relation sounds rather like a fiction than a truth.
3. To be conveyed in sound; to be spread or published. From you sounded out the word of the Lord. – 1 Thess. i. To sound in damages, in law, is when there is no specific value of property in demand to serve as a rule of damages, as in actions of tort or trespass, as distinguished from actions of debt, &c. Ellsworth.

1. To try, as the depth of water and the quality of the ground, by sinking a plummet or lead, attached to a line on; which are marked the number of fathoms. The lower end of the lead is covered with tallow, by means of which some portion of the earth, sand, gravel, shells, &c. of the bottom, adhere to it and are drawn up. By these means, and the depth of water and the nature of the bottom, which are carefully marked on good charts, seamen may know how far a ship is from land in the night or in thick weather, and in many cases when the land is too remote to be visible.
2. To introduce a sound into the bladder of a patient, in order to ascertain whether a stone is there or not. When a patient is to be sounded. – Cooper.
3. To try; to examine; to discover or endeavor to discover that which lies concealed in another's breast; to search out the intention, opinion, will or desires. I was in jest, / And by that offer meant to sound your breast. – Dryden. I've sounded my Numidians man by man. – Addison.

1. To cause to make a noise; as, to sound trumpet or a horn.
2. To utter audibly; as, to sound a note with the voice.
3. To play on; as to sound an instrument.
4. To order or direct by a sound; to give a signal for, by certain sound; as, to sound a retreat.
5. To celebrate or honor by sounds; to cause to be reported; as, to sound one's praise.
6. To spread by sound or report; to publish or proclaim; as, to sound the praises or fame of a great man or a great exploit. We sometimes say, to sound abroad.

1. The air bladder of a fish] as, cod sounds are an esteemed article of food.
2. A cuttlefish.
   
   
   [Obs.] Ainsworth.
3. Whole] unbroken; unharmed; free from flaw, defect, or decay; perfect of the kind; as, sound timber; sound fruit; a sound tooth; a sound ship.
4. Soundly.
   
   

   So sound he slept that naught might him awake. Spenser.

5. A narrow passage of water, or a strait between the mainland and an island] also, a strait connecting two seas, or connecting a sea or lake with the ocean; as, the Sound between the Baltic and the german Ocean; Long Island Sound.
   
   

   The Sound of Denmark, where ships pay toll. Camden.

   Sound dues, tolls formerly imposed by Denmark on vessels passing through the Baltic Sound.

6. To measure the depth of; to fathom; especially, to ascertain the depth of by means of a line and plummet.
7. To ascertain the depth of water with a sounding line or other device.
   
   

   I sound as a shipman soundeth in the sea with his plummet to know the depth of sea. Palsgrave.

8. Any elongated instrument or probe, usually metallic, by which cavities of the body are sounded or explored, especially the bladder for stone, or the urethra for a stricture.
9. The peceived object occasioned by the impulse or vibration of a material substance affecting the ear; a sensation or perception of the mind received through the ear, and produced by the impulse or vibration of the air or other medium with which the ear is in contact; the effect of an impression made on the organs of hearing by an impulse or vibration of the air caused by a collision of bodies, or by other means; noise; report; as, the sound of a drum; the sound of the human voice; a horrid sound; a charming sound; a sharp, high, or shrill sound.
   
   

   The warlike sound
   Of trumpets loud and clarions. Milton.

10. To make a noise; to utter a voice; to make an impulse of the air that shall strike the organs of hearing with a perceptible effect.
    
    
    "And first taught speaking trumpets how to sound." Dryden.

    How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues! Shak.

11. To causse to make a noise; to play on; as, to sound a trumpet or a horn.
    
    

    A bagpipe well could he play and soun[d]. Chaucer.

12. Healthy; not diseased; not being in a morbid state; -- said of body or mind; as, a sound body; a sound constitution; a sound understanding.
13. Fig.: To ascertain, or try to ascertain, the thoughts, motives, and purposes of (a person); to examine; to try; to test; to probe.
    
    

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

    I've sounded my Numidians man by man. Addison.

14. The occasion of sound; the impulse or vibration which would occasion sound to a percipient if present with unimpaired; hence, the theory of vibrations in elastic media such cause sound; as, a treatise on sound.
    
    

    * In this sense, sounds are spoken of as audible and inaudible.

15. To be conveyed in sound; to be spread or published; to convey intelligence by sound.
    
    

    From you sounded out the word of the Lord. 1 Thess. i. 8.

16. To cause to exit as a sound; as, to sound a note with the voice, or on an instrument.
17. Firm; strong; safe.
    
    

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

18. To explore, as the bladder or urethra, with a sound; to examine with a sound; also, to examine by auscultation or percussion; as, to sound a patient.
    
    

19. Noise without signification; empty noise; noise and nothing else.
    
    

    Sense and not sound . . . must be the principle. Locke.

    Sound boarding, boards for holding pugging, placed in partitions of under floors in order to deaden sounds. - - Sound bow, in a series of transverse sections of a bell, that segment against which the clapper strikes, being the part which is most efficacious in producing the sound. See Illust. of Bell. -- Sound post. (Mus.) See Sounding post, under Sounding.

20. To make or convey a certain impression, or to have a certain import, when heard; hence, to seem; to appear; as, this reproof sounds harsh; the story sounds like an invention.
    
    

    Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear
    Things that do sound so fair? Shak.

    To sound in or into, to tend to; to partake of the nature of; to be consonant with. [Obs., except in the phrase To sound in damages, below.]

    Soun[d]ing in moral virtue was his speech. Chaucer.

    -- To sound in damages (Law), to have the essential quality of damages. This is said of an action brought, not for the recovery of a specific thing, as replevin, etc., but for damages only, as trespass, and the like.

21. To order, direct, indicate, or proclain by a sound, or sounds; to give a signal for by a certain sound; as, to sound a retreat; to sound a parley.
    
    

    The clock sounded the hour of noon. G. H. Lewes.

22. Free from error; correct; right; honest; true; faithful; orthodox; -- said of persons; as, a sound lawyer; a sound thinker.
    
    

    Do not I know you a favorer
    Of this new seat? Ye are nor sound. Shak.

23. To celebrate or honor by sounds; to cause to be reported; to publish or proclaim; as, to sound the praises of fame of a great man or a great exploit.
24. Founded in truth or right; supported by justice; not to be overthrown on refuted; not fallacious; as, sound argument or reasoning; a sound objection; sound doctrine; sound principles.
    
    

    Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me. 2 Tim. i. 13.

25. To examine the condition of (anything) by causing the same to emit sounds and noting their character; as, to sound a piece of timber; to sound a vase; to sound the lungs of a patient.
26. heavy; laid on with force; as, a sound beating.
27. To signify; to import; to denote.
    
    
    [Obs.] Milton.

    Soun[d]ing alway the increase of his winning. Chaucer.

28. Undisturbed; deep; profound; as, sound sleep.
29. Founded in law; legal; valid; not defective; as, a sound title to land.
    
    

    * Sound is sometimes used in the formation of self- explaining compounds; as, sound-headed, sound-hearted, sound-timbered, etc.

    Sound currency (Com.), a currency whose actual value is the same as its nominal value; a currency which does not deteriorate or depreciate or fluctuate in comparision with the standard of values.