verb. (GROSE and VAUX).—To examine; TO TRY (q.v.); to extract information artfully; TO PUMP (q.v.). TO SOUND A CLY = to ‘try’ a pocket.
1597. SHAKESPEARE, Richard III., iii. 1, 169.
| Go, gentle Catesby, | |
| And, as it were far off, SOUND thou lord Hastings, | |
| How he doth stand affected to our purpose. |
1603. BACON, Essays, ‘Of Negotiating’ (1887). It is better to SOUND a person with whom one deals, afar off, than to fall upon the point at first; except you mean to surprise him by some short question.
1768. GOLDSMITH, The Good-Natured Man, ii. I have SOUNDED him already at a distance, and find all his answers exactly to our wish.
1885. Evening Standard, 3 Oct. His Holiness, however, on being SOUNDED on the subject, by the Spanish Ambassador in Rome, declined.
SOUND AS A ROACH (TROUT, BELL, &c.), phr. (old).—Perfectly sound. [Roche = rock.]
1697. VANBRUGH, The Provoked Wife, iv. 6. Lady B. … I hope you are not wounded. Sir Job. SOUND AS A ROCHE, Wife.
See GOOSE.
