▪ I. baste, n.1 Card-playing.
(beɪst)
Also bast.
A variant of beast, of which it retains the former pronunciation, the spelling being altered to suit.
| 1850 Hand-bk. of Games (Bohn) 226 Bast is a penalty incurred by not winning when you stand your game, or by renouncing. Ibid. 243 A baste off the board is always paid out of the pool. |
▪ II. † baste, n.2 Her. Obs.
App. corruption of base n.1 8; cf. bast n.3
| 1562 Leigh Armorie (1579) 80 He beareth partie per bast barre erased, Argent, and Vert. 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 177 You haue seene in one coate..both a cheefe and a baste. |
▪ III. baste, v.1
(beɪst)
Also 6 baest, 6–7 bast.
[a. OF. bastir (mod. bâtir), cogn. with Sp. bastear, embastar, It. imbastire ‘to stuffe, to quilt..to baste as taylers doe’ (Florio); separated by Littré and others from bâtir to build, with which it is identical in form, and referred to OHG. bestan to patch, MHG. besten to lace, tie, f. bast bast n.1; but Diez thinks it sufficiently accounted for by ‘put together, join,’ dialectal senses of It. and Romanic bastire to build, construct.]
trans. To sew together loosely: hence † a. To stitch through (the folds of a doublet, contents of a bag or cushion), so as to keep them in place, to quilt (obs.); b. in mod. use, To sew or ‘tack’ together with long loose stitches the parts of (a piece of work), in order to hold them in place for the time. c. transf. or fig.
| a. c 1440 Rom. Rose 104 With a threde bastyng my slevis. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 26 Bastyn clothys, subsuo, sutulo. 1530 Palsgr. 442 This dublet was not well basted at the first, and that maketh it to wrinkle thus: ce pourpoynt nestoyt pas bien basty. 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physick 178/2 Replenishe therwith a little bagge..baest least the herbes fall together on a heape. 1611 Cotgr., Glacer..to flesh-bast; or stitch downe the lyning of a garment, thereby to keep it from sagging. |
| b. 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 25 This patch here placd, the which I bast: And sow so fast. 1883 Chr. Globe 13 Sept. 819/2 A doll's dress that has been cut and basted by ‘a real dressmaker.’ |
| c. 1540 T. Raynalde Birth Man i. ii. (1634) 19 The very skin and it being both basted together, by a great number of small fibres. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 289 The body of your discourse is sometime guarded with fragments, and the guardes are but slightly basted on neither. 1816 Scott Old Mort. Concl., You have..basted up your first story very hastily and clumsily. |
▪ IV. baste, v.2
(beɪst)
Forms: 6 baast (pa. pple.), 6–7 bast, 6– baste.
[Origin unknown: it has been conjectured to be a transferred sense of the next, with idea of ‘stroking’ (Wedgwood), which is not favoured by the relative dates of the two words, or to be from Romanic bastire (see baste v.1), with general sense of ‘prepare’; but nothing like the special sense occurs in Romanic.]
1. To moisten (a roasting joint, etc.) by the application of melted fat, gravy, or other liquid, so as to keep it from burning, and improve its flavour.
| 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys I. 100 The fat pygge is baast, the lene cony is brent. 1598 Epulario C j b, Let it rost sokingly, basting it oft with the foresaid sauce. 1653 Walton Angler 159 Let him be..often basted with claret wine. 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece i. ii. 126 Tie your Lobsters to the Spit alive, baste them with Water and Salt. 1853 A. Soyer Pantropheon 163 Baste it with its own gravy. |
b. transf. or fig.
| 1575 Turberv. Venerie 61 That I the wine should taste..and so my throte I baste. 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 50 See how he basts himselfe in his owne greace. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 195 That bastes his arrogance with his owne seame. 1883 Gilmour Mongols xxiv. 297 Some white flour scones basted in butter. |
† 2. To perfuse as with a liniment. Obs.
| 1570 Levins Manip. /36 Baste, linire. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Fleas, Put to your water two ounces of Staves⁓acre..and..baste your dog therewith. 1735 Oldys Raleigh (R.) Having had their naked bodies basted or dropped over with burning bacon. |
3. In Candle-making: see basting vbl. n.2 2.
4. To mark (sheep) with tar. ‘North.’ (Halliwell.)
| [1590 Greene Mourn. Garm. (1616) 2 The prime of his yeeres was in the flowre, and youth sate and basted him Calendes in his forehead. [Cf. buist.]] |
▪ V. baste, v.3
(beɪst)
Forms: 6 (pa. pple.) baste, basit, (pa. tense) baist; 6–7 bast, 6– baste.
[Of uncertain origin, not known before 16th c.; the early instances being all in pa. tense or pa. pple. basit, baste, baist, might be from a present bas, base, to be compared with Sw. basa ‘to baste, whip, beat, flog.’ With baste, if it was the original form, cf. Icel. beysta, beyrsta ‘to bruise, thrash, flog,’ Sw. bösta ‘to thump’; but the vowels do not agree with the Eng. Possibly, after all, a figurative use of the preceding: cf. anoint in sense of thrash.]
trans. To beat soundly, thrash, cudgel.
| 1533 Bellenden Livy iii. (1822) 223 He departit weil basit, and defuleyeit of his clething. ? a 1550 Rob. Hood (Ritson) iii. 102 He paid good Robin back and side, And baist him up and down. Ibid. 364 Their bones were baste so sore. 1596 P. Colse Penelope (1880) 172 Would not sticke to baste your bones. 1660 Pepys Diary 1 Dec., I took a broom, and basted her, till she cried extremely. 1704 Steele Lying Louer iv. ii. 43 I'll have the Rascal well basted for his insolence. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. iv. iv. §8 Baste the bear [a kind of game]. 1847 Barham Ingol. Leg. (1877) 13 Would now and then seize..A stick..And baste her lord and master most confoundedly. |
| fig. 1797 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Livery Lond. Wks 1812 III. 443 Basted by saucy Verse and Prose..Like Bears by ruffian Bull-dogs baited. |
▪ VI. baste, v.4 Card-playing.
(beɪst)
Also bast.
[f. baste n.1]
A modern variant of to beast (retaining the former pronunciation).
| 1850 Hand-Bk of Games (Bohn) 231 He who renounces is basted as often as detected. 1878 H. H. Gibbs Ombre 27 note, Quadrille-players call it a Baste or being Basted, not from any idea connected with Baste or being beaten, but by corruption from the word Beaste. |