DCHP-1

fathom † Hist.

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 also: bras(s)e
- 1728 (1949) I offer'd 10 Guns, and 40 fathoms of Tobacco, 14 Gallons of Brandy, to carry as Presents. . . .
- 1794 (1929) The Men put ashore to raise a few fathoms of bark of which we had great need. . . .
- 1799 (1897) [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.