fathom
noun
[ ˈfað(ə)m ]
• a unit of length equal to six feet (1.8 metres), chiefly used in reference to the depth of water.
• "sonar says that we're in eighteen fathoms"
fathom
verb
• understand (a difficult problem or an enigmatic person) after much thought.
• "the locals could not fathom out the reason behind his new-found prosperity"
Similar:
understand,
comprehend,
work out,
fathom out,
make sense of,
grasp,
catch,
follow,
perceive,
make out,
penetrate,
divine,
search out,
ferret out,
puzzle out,
take in,
assimilate,
absorb,
get to the bottom of,
interpret,
decipher,
decode,
disentangle,
untangle,
unravel,
piece together,
make head or tail of,
take on board,
get a fix on,
get/catch the drift of,
tumble to,
crack,
dig,
get,
get the picture,
get the message,
see what's what,
twig,
suss (out),
savvy,
cognize,
• measure the depth of (water).
• "an attempt to fathom the ocean"
Origin:
Old English fæthm, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vadem, vaam and German Faden ‘six feet’. The original sense was ‘something which embraces’, (plural) ‘the outstretched arms’; hence, a unit of measurement based on the span of the outstretched arms, later standardized to six feet.
