<B>soundhead, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a device in a motion-picture projector that converts the sound track of a film into electrical signals which are then amplified and reproduced. </DL>
<A NAME="soundhole">
<B>sound-hole, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a curvilinear opening, usually in pairs, in the soundboard of stringed instruments; f-hole. </DL>
<A NAME="sounding">
<B>sounding</B> (1), adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>that sounds; causing, emitting, or producing a sound or sounds. <DD><B> 2. </B>making loud sounds; resounding; resonant. <DD><B> 3. </B>sounding fine, but meaning little; pompous; bombastic. <BR> <I>Ex. She used to repeat sounding phrases from books (Charlotte Bronte).</I> adv. <B>soundingly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sounding">
<B>sounding</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or process of measuring the depth of water with a sounding line, fathometer, sonar, or other means. <DD><B> 2. </B>the depth of water found by this means. <DD><B> 3. </B>an investigation. <DD><B> 4. </B>an examining with a sound or probe. <BR><I>expr. <B>soundings,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>depths of water found by a sounding. </I> <I>Ex. Up to the very brink of the coral rampart there are no soundings (Herman Melville).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>water not more than 100 fathoms (600 feet) deep, which can be measured by an ordinary sounding line. <BR> <I>Ex. We were soon out of soundings, and well into the Bay of Biscay (Frederick Marryat).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>take soundings,</B> </I>to try to find out quietly how matters stand. <BR> <I>Ex. Old Dan bears you no malice, I'd lay fifty pounds on it! But, if you like, I'll just step in and take soundings (Charles J. Lever).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="soundingballoon">
<B>sounding balloon,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a small, free balloon containing meteorological equipment, sent up to investigate and record atmospheric conditions. </DL>
<A NAME="soundingboard">
<B>sounding board,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a structure used to direct sound toward an audience. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a means of bringing opinions, or ideas, out into the open. <BR> <I>Ex. In view of the prolonged and still unsettled wage negotiations in the industry, the convention is expected to be the sounding board for bitter recriminations (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=soundboard </B>(def. 1). </DL>
<A NAME="soundingbox">
<B>sounding box,</B> <B>=soundbox.</B></DL>
<A NAME="soundinglead">
<B>sounding lead,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the lead or plummet at the end of a sounding line. </DL>
<A NAME="soundingline">
<B>sounding line,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a line having a weight fastened to the end and marked in fathoms by various colors or materials, used to measure the depth of water; lead line. </DL>
<A NAME="soundingmachine">
<B>sounding machine,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various machines for taking deep-sea or other soundings. </DL>
<A NAME="soundingrocket">
<B>sounding rocket,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a rocket containing scientific instruments for investigating conditions at high altitudes. <BR> <I>Ex. to send up sounding rockets to find out more about the nature of the space which satellite and space vehicles will traverse (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="soundings">
<B>soundings, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>sounding</B> (2). </DL>
<A NAME="soundless">
<B>soundless</B> (1), adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> without sound; making no sound; quiet or silent; noiseless or still. <BR> <I>Ex. soundless steps, a soundless night: ... a soundless waste, a trackless vacancy (Wordsworth).</I> adv. <B>soundlessly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="soundless">
<B>soundless</B> (2), adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> so deep that the bottom cannot be reached with a sounding line; unfathomable. <BR> <I>Ex. the soundless depths of the ocean.</I> (SYN) fathomless. </DL>
<A NAME="soundly">
<B>soundly, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>in a sound manner; deeply; heavily; profoundly. <BR> <I>Ex. The tired child slept soundly.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>vigorously; strongly; severely. <BR> <I>Ex. Father scolded us soundly.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>thoroughly; completely; properly. <DD><B> 4. </B>with good judgment or common sense. <BR> <I>Ex. He decided soundly to keep out of trouble.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="soundman">
<B>sound man,</B> <B>=sound mixer.</B></DL>
<A NAME="soundmixer">
<B>sound mixer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who regulates the quality of the sound recorded as on films or tapes. </DL>
<A NAME="soundmotionpicture">
<B>sound motion picture,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a motion picture in which the actors can be heard to speak, sing, and move, the speech, music, and other sounds being recorded on a sound track. </DL>
<A NAME="soundness">
<B>soundness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>good health. <BR> <I>Ex. soundness of body and mind.</I> (SYN) vigor. <DD><B> 2. </B>freedom from weakness or defect. (SYN) perfection. <DD><B> 3. </B>good judgment; correctness and reliability. <BR> <I>Ex. We have confidence in the doctor's soundness.</I> (SYN) discernment. </DL>
<B>sound post,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a thin rod inside a violin or similar instrument, underneath the bridge, that conducts the sound from the front to the back of the instrument and serves as a support against the pressure of the strings. </DL>
<A NAME="soundproof">
<B>soundproof, </B>adjective, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> not letting sound pass through; that absorbs or deadens sound. <BR> <I>Ex. a soundproof room or ceiling.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to make soundproof. <BR> <I>Ex. The halls at school are soundproofed.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="soundradio">
<B>sound radio,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) the medium of broadcasting by radio; radiobroadcast. </DL>
<B>soundscape, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a range of sounds; musical panorama. </DL>
<A NAME="soundspectrogram">
<B>sound spectrogram,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a graphic representation made by a sound spectrograph; sonogram. </DL>
<A NAME="soundspectrograph">
<B>sound spectrograph,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an electronic instrument which produces a graphic representation of sound, with vertical marks representing frequency and horizontal marks representing time. </DL>
<A NAME="soundstage">
<B>sound stage,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the set on which a sound motion picture is filmed. </DL>
<A NAME="soundtrack">
<B>sound track,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a recording of the sounds of words, music, and action, made along one edge of a motion-picture film. It is synchronized with the pictures of the action and reconverted into sound by the projector. </DL>
<A NAME="soundtruck">
<B>sound truck,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a truck with one or more loudspeakers, used in making public announcements. </DL>
<A NAME="soundwave">
<B>sound wave,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any of the longitudinal progressive vibrations of a material medium by which sounds are transmitted. </DL>
<A NAME="soup">
<B>soup, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a liquid food made by boiling meat, fish, or vegetables in water, milk, or the like. Broth is thin soup. <BR> <I>Ex. He ate a bowl of hot chicken soup.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>anything resembling this, such as a mixture of chemical elements. <BR> <I>Ex. Life probably arose from "a soup of amino-acid-like molecules" some 3,000,000,000 years ago (John G. Lepp).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Slang.) a heavy, wet fog or cloud formation. <BR> <I>Ex. to fly on instruments through soup.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Slang.) power; horsepower. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Surfing Slang.) the foam or froth formed by a wave breaking on the beach. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>soup up,</B> (Slang.) <B>a. </B>to increase the horsepower of (an engine) by adjusting the mechanism, enriching the fuel mixture, adding special parts, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. to soup up an engine.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to make (an automobile or motorcycle) able to accelerate more quickly or attain a higher speed by doing this to its engine or engines. <BR> <I>Ex. to soup up a car.</I> <DD><B> c. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. to soup up a story or song.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>from soup to nuts,</B> </I>from beginning to end. <BR> <I>Ex. The ideal organisation, it is suggested, is integration of production from raw material to the point of sale, doing the whole job from soup to nuts (Sunday Times).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in the soup,</B> </I>(Informal.) in difficulty. <BR> <I>Ex. Hog producers are going to be in the soup by fall. ... There'll be overproduction there just as sure as God made little apples (Maclean's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="soupandfish">
<B>soup-and-fish, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) a man's formal evening suit. </DL>
<A NAME="soupbone">
<B>soupbone, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a bone (with some meat on it) used for making soup stock, usually the shank of beef. </DL>
<A NAME="soupcon">
<B>soupcon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a slight trace or flavor; very small amount; suspicion; suggestion. <BR> <I>Ex. to add a soupcon of salt to a salad. A soupcon of financial stability came [to the Paris Review] in 1956 (New York Herald Tribune Books).</I> (SYN) whit, dash. </DL>
<A NAME="soupfin">
<B>soupfin, </B>noun, or <B>soupfin shark,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a shark whose fin is used by the Chinese for making soup, especially common on the coast of California. </DL>
<A NAME="soupkitchen">
<B>soup kitchen,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a place where food is served free or at a very low charge to poor or unemployed people or to victims of a flood, fire, or other disaster. <BR> <I>Ex. The nation was in the full grip of the depression, and on the sidewalks of New York was heard the shuffling of feet at the bread lines and the soup kitchens (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="soupmeat">
<B>soup meat,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> meat used for soup, especially to make the stock of soup. </DL>
<A NAME="soupplate">
<B>soup plate,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a rather large, deep plate used for serving soup. </DL>
<A NAME="soupspoon">
<B>soup spoon,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a medium-sized, round spoon used for eating soup. </DL>
<A NAME="soupy">
<B>soupy, </B>adjective, <B>soupier,</B> <B>soupiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> like soup in consistency or appearance. <BR> <I>Ex. The weather was soupy and visibility was reduced (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
