different between sounder vs beacon

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sa?nd?(?)/
• Rhymes: -a?nd?(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English *soundere, from Old English ?esundra, from Proto-Germanic *sundizô, equivalent to sound +? -er (comparative suffix).

Adjective

sounder

1. comparative form of sound: more sound

Etymology 2

From Middle English soundar, sownere, equivalent to sound +? -er.

Noun

sounder (plural sounders)

1. Something, or someone who makes a sound.
2. An instrument used in telegraphy in place of a register, the communications being read by sound.
3. (medicine, dated, plural only) A stethoscope.

Derived terms

• depth sounder
• echo sounder
• telegraph sounder

Translations

Etymology 3

From French sonder

Noun

sounder (plural sounders)

1. (nautical) A device for making soundings at sea.
2. (nautical) A person who takes soundings.
3. (fishing) A fishfinder.

Etymology 4

Old English sunor

Noun

sounder (plural sounders)

1. A group of wild boar.
2. A young boar.

Anagrams

• Oresund, enduros, resound, undoers, unsored

English

Etymology

From Middle English beken, from Old English b?acn (“sign, signal”), from Proto-West Germanic *baukn, from Proto-Germanic *baukn? (compare West Frisian beaken (“buoy”), Dutch baken (“beacon”), Middle Low German b?ke (“beacon, sign”), German Bake (“traffic sign”), Middle High German bouchen (“sign”)), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *b?eh?u-, *b?eh?- (“to shine”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?bi?k?n/
• Rhymes: -i?k?n

Noun

beacon (plural beacons)

1. A signal fire to notify of the approach of an enemy, or to give any notice, commonly of warning.
   • 1713, John Gay, The Rural Sports

     No flaming beacons cast their blaze afar.

2. (nautical) A signal or conspicuous mark erected on an eminence near the shore, or moored in shoal water, as a guide to mariners.
   1. A post or buoy placed over a shoal or bank to warn vessels of danger; also a signal mark on land. (FM 55-501)
3. A high hill or other easily distinguishable object near the shore which can serve as guidance for seafarers.
4. (figuratively) That which gives notice of danger, or keeps people on the correct path.
5. An electronic device that broadcasts a signal to nearby portable devices, enabling smartphones etc. to perform actions when in physical proximity to the beacon.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• cairn
• leading mark
• navigation aid
• navigation mark
• radar reflector
• sea mark, seamark

Verb

beacon (third-person singular simple present beacons, present participle beaconing, simple past and past participle beaconed)

1. (intransitive) To act as a beacon.
2. (transitive) To give light to, as a beacon; to light up; to illumine.
   • 1801, Thomas Campbell, Lochiel's Warning

     That beacons the darkness of heaven.

3. (transitive) To furnish with a beacon or beacons.

Related terms

• beckon