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fathom†
Hist.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
n.
a linear measure of six feet, widely used in colonial and fur-trade days for measuring rope, wampum, cloth, tobacco, dried oolichan, nets, canoe bark, canoes, as well as for water depth, for which the official fathom is 6.08 feet.
See: bras(s)e
Quotations
1728
I offer'd 10 Guns, and 40 fathoms of Tobacco, 14 Gallons of Brandy, to carry as Presents. . . .
1794
The Men put ashore to raise a few fathoms of bark of which we had great need. . . .
1799
[He traded] at the low price of four skins for a fathom of common blue strouds. . . .
1963
The unit of the [wampum] money was the fathom, consisting of 360 white beads and at one time worth sixpence, or about fourteen cents.