Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Deep

Deep

(dēp)
,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Deeper
(dēp′ẽr)
;
sup
erl.
Deepest
(dēp′ĕst)
.]
[OE.
dep
,
deop
, AS.
deóp
; akin to D.
diep
, G.
tief
, Icel.
djūpr
, Sw.
diup
, Dan.
dyb
, Goth.
diups
; fr. the root of E.
dip
,
dive
. See
Dip
,
Dive
.]
1.
Extending far below the surface; of great perpendicular dimension (measured from the surface downward, and distinguished from high, which is measured upward); far to the bottom; having a certain depth;
as, a
deep
sea
.
The water where the brook is
deep
.
Shakespeare
2.
Extending far back from the front or outer part; of great horizontal dimension (measured backward from the front or nearer part, mouth, etc.);
as, a
deep
cave or recess or wound; a gallery ten seats
deep
; a company of soldiers six files
deep
.
Shadowing squadrons
deep
.
Milton.
Safely in harbor
Is the king’s ship in the
deep
nook.
Shakespeare
3.
Low in situation; lying far below the general surface;
as, a
deep
valley
.
4.
Hard to penetrate or comprehend; profound; – opposed to
shallow
or
superficial
; intricate; mysterious; not obvious; obscure;
as, a
deep
subject or plot
.
Speculations high or
deep
.
Milton.
A question
deep
almost as the mystery of life.
De Quincey.
O Lord, . . . thy thoughts are very
deep
.
Ps. xcii. 5.
5.
Of penetrating or far-reaching intellect; not superficial; thoroughly skilled; sagacious; cunning.
Deep
clerks she dumbs.
Shakespeare
6.
Profound; thorough; complete; unmixed; intense; heavy; heartfelt;
as,
deep
distress;
deep
melancholy;
deep
horror.
“
Deep
despair.”
Milton.
“
Deep
silence.”
Milton.
“
Deep
sleep.”
Gen. ii. 21.
“
Deeper
darkness.”
Hoole.
“Their
deep
poverty.”
2 Cor. viii. 2.
An attitude of
deep
respect.
Motley.
7.
Strongly colored; dark; intense; not light or thin;
as,
deep
blue or crimson
.
8.
Of low tone; full-toned; not high or sharp; grave; heavy.
“The deep thunder.”
Byron.
The bass of heaven's
deep
organ.
Milton.
9.
Muddy; boggy; sandy; – said of roads.
Chaucer.
The ways in that vale were very
deep
.
Clarendon.
A deep line of operations
(Military)
,
a long line.
–
Deep mourning
(Costume)
,
mourning complete and strongly marked, the garments being not only all black, but also composed of lusterless materials and of such fashion as is identified with mourning garments.

Deep

,
adv.
To a great depth; with depth; far down; profoundly; deeply.
Deep
-versed in books, and shallow in himself.
Milton.
Drink
deep
, or taste not the Pierian spring.
Pope.
☞ Deep, in its usual adverbial senses, is often prefixed to an adjective; as,
deep
-chested,
deep
-cut,
deep
-seated,
deep
-toned,
deep
-voiced, “
deep
-uddered kine.”

Deep

,
Noun.
1.
That which is deep, especially deep water, as the sea or ocean; an abyss; a great depth.
Courage from the
deeps
of knowledge springs.
Cowley.
The hollow
deep
of hell resounded.
Milton.
Blue Neptune storms, the bellowing
deeps
resound.
Pope.
2.
That which is profound, not easily fathomed, or incomprehensible; a moral or spiritual depth or abyss.
Thy judgments are a great
deep
.
Ps. xxxvi. 6.
Deep of night
,
the most quiet or profound part of night; dead of night.
The
deep of night
is crept upon our talk.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Deep

DEEP

, a.
1.
Extending or being far below the surface; descending far downward; profound ; opposed to shallow; as deep water; a deep pit or well.
2.
Low in situation; being or descending far below the adjacent land; as a deep valley.
3.
Entering far; piercing a great way. A tree in a good soil takes deep root. A spear struck deep into the flesh.
4.
Far from the outer part; secreted.
A spider deep ambushed in her den.
5.
Not superficial or obvious; hidden; secret.
He discovereth deep things out of darkness. Job xii.
6.
Remote from comprehension.
O Lord, thy thoughts are very deep. Ps. Xcii.
7.
Sagacious; penetrating; having the power to enter far into a subject; as a man of deep thought; a deep divine.
8.
Artful; contriving; concealing artifice; insidious; designing; as a friend, deep, hollow treacherous.
9.
Grave in sound; low; as the deep tones of an organ.
10.
Very still; solemn; profound; as deep silence.
11.
Thick; black; not to be penetrated by the sight.
Now deeper darkness brooded on the ground.
12.
Still; sound; not easily broken or disturbed.
The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam. Gen ii.
13.
Depressed; sunk low, metaphorically; as deep poverty.
14.
Dark; intense; strongly colored; as a deep brown; a deep crimson; a deep blue.
15.
Unknown; unintelligible.
A people of deeper speech than thou canst perceive. Is. xxxiii.
16.
Heart-felt; penetrating; affecting; as a deep sense of guilt.
17.
Intricate; not easily understood or unraveled; as a deep plot or intrigue.
This word often qualifies a verb, like an adverb.
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.

DEEP

,
Noun.
1.
The sea; the abyss of waters; the ocean.
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot. Job x1i.
2.
A lake; a great collection of water.
Lanch out into the deep, and let down your nets. Luke v.
3.
That which is profound, not easily fathomed, or incomprehensible.
Thy judgments are a great deep. Ps. xxxvi.
4.
The most still or solemn part; the midst; as, in deep of night.

Definition 2024

deep

deep

English

Adjective

deep ‎(comparative deeper, superlative deepest)

  1. (heading, of a physical distance) Extending far away from a point of reference, especially downwards.
    1. Extending far down from the top or surface; having its bottom far down.
      We hiked into a deep valley between tall mountains.‎
      There was a deep layer of dust on the floor; the room had not been disturbed for many years.‎
    2. Far in extent in another (non-downwards, but generally also non-upwards) direction away from a point of reference.
      The shelves are 30 centimetres deep. — They are deep shelves.‎
    3. In a (specified) number of rows or layers.
      a crowd three deep along the funeral procession‎
    4. Thick.
      That cyclist's deep chest allows him to draw more air.‎
      • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
        Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
    5. Voluminous.
      to take a deep breath / sigh / drink‎
      • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
        Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
    6. A long way inside; situated far in or back.
      deep into the forest;  deep in the forest‎
      1. (cricket, baseball, softball) Far from the center of the playing area, near to the boundary of the playing area, either in absolute terms or relative to a point of reference.
        He is fielding at deep mid wicket.‎
        She hit a ball into deep center field.‎
      2. (sports, soccer, tennis) A long way forward.
        a deep volley‎
      3. (American football) Relatively farther downfield.
  2. (heading, intellectual, social) Complex, involved.
    1. Profound, having great meaning or import, but possibly obscure or not obvious.
      That is a deep thought!‎
    2. To a significant, not superficial, extent.
      I just meant to help out a little, but now I'm deep into it.‎
      They're deep in discussion.‎
    3. Hard to penetrate or comprehend; profound; intricate; obscure.
      a deep subject or plot‎
      • c. 1840, Thomas De Quincey:
        Why it was that the ancients had no landscape painting, is a question deep almost as the mystery of life, and harder of solution than all the problems of jurisprudence combined.
    4. Of penetrating or far-reaching intellect; not superficial; thoroughly skilled; sagacious; cunning.
  3. (sound, voice) Low in pitch.
    She has a very deep contralto voice.‎
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      The departure was not unduly prolonged. […] Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity.
  4. (of a color) Dark and highly saturated.
    That's a very deep shade of blue.‎
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:
      The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: […].
  5. (sleep) Sound, heavy (describing a state of sleep from which one is not easily awoken).
    He was in a deep sleep.‎
  6. Immersed, submerged (in).
    deep in debt;  deep in the mud;  waist-deep in the muddy water‎
  7. Muddy; boggy; sandy; said of roads.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Edward Hyde:
      The ways in that vale were very deep.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

See also

Adverb

deep ‎(comparative more deep, superlative most deep)

  1. Deeply.
    • Milton:
      Deep-versed in books, and shallow in himself.
    • Alexander Pope:
      Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
    • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page vii
      Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.

Translations

Noun

deep ‎(countable and uncountable, plural deeps)

  1. (literary, with "the") The deep part of a lake, sea, etc.
    creatures of the deep
  2. (rare) A deep shade of colour.
    • 2014, William H. Gass, On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry (page 59)
      For our blues we have the azures and ceruleans, lapis lazulis, the light and dusty, the powder blues, the deeps: royal, sapphire, navy, and marine […]
  3. (US, rare) The profound part of a problem.
  4. (with "the") The sea, the ocean.
  5. (cricket) A fielding position near the boundary.
    Russell is a safe pair of hands in the deep.

Translations

Derived terms

See also

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: seem · book · story · #470: deep · meet · interest · brother

Anagrams

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

  • deef (northern Moselle Franconian; now predominant in Ripuarian)
  • dief (southern Moselle Franconian)

Etymology

One of several Ripuarian relict words with an unshifted post-vocalic plosive. Compare Aap ‎(“ape”), söke ‎(“to seek”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /deːp/

Adjective

deep ‎(masculine deepe, feminine deep, comparativer deeper, superlative et deepste)

  1. (Ripuarian, archaic in many dialects) deep

Etymology

From Middle English depe, from Old English dēop ‎(“deep, profound; awful, mysterious; heinous; serious, solemn, earnest; extreme, great”), from Proto-Germanic *deupaz ‎(“deep”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéwbus, from *dʰewb- ‎(“deep”). Cognate with Scots depe ‎(“deep”), Saterland Frisian djoop ‎(“deep”), West Frisian djip ‎(“deep”), Low German deep ‎(“deep”), Dutch diep ‎(“deep”), German tief ‎(“deep”), Danish dyb ‎(“deep”), Norwegian dyp ‎(“deep”), Swedish djup ‎(“deep”), Icelandic djúpur ‎(“deep”), Lithuanian dubùs ‎(“deep, hollow”), Albanian det ‎(“sea”), Welsh dwfn ‎(“deep”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: dēp, IPA(key): /diːp/
  • Rhymes: -iːp

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