All 3 Uses of
fathom
in
David Copperfield
- I fathomed the depth of the rascal's whole scheme, and understood why he laid it bare.†
Chpt 25-27 *fathomed = came to understand
- I assured her that its profundity was quite unfathomable, and expressed my belief that nothing like it had ever been known.†
Chpt 34-36unfathomable = not capable of being understoodstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unfathomable means not and reverses the meaning of fathomable. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- Now, I was unwilling to put the direction-card on there, lest any of my landlord's family should fathom what I was doing, and detain me; so I said to the young man that I would be glad if he would stop for a minute, when he came to the dead-wall of the King's Bench prison.†
Chpt 10-12
Definitions:
-
(1)
(fathom as in: can't fathom) understand something -- especially when it’s difficult or complex
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Fathom can also refer to a unit of measure for water depth (6 feet), or to the act of measuring the depth of water.