The Only Use of
fathom
in
Lord of the Flies
- Suddenly he blundered into the open, found himself again in that open space—and there was the fathom-wide grin of the skull, no longer ridiculing a deep blue patch of sky but jeering up into a blanket of smoke.†
p. 197.1
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.