Bath, n.2
(bɑːθ, -æ-)
[The same word as the prec. originally used in dat. pl. in a defining phrase, thus, Cod. Dipl. 290 (an. 864) ‘in illa famosa urbe ðæt is æt ðæm hátum baðum’ (in that famous town that is at the hot baths), 193 (an. 808) ‘in civitate æt Baðun’ (in the city at the Baths), whence as an indecl. n. Baðum, Baðun, Baðon (latinized Bathonia), Baðan, Baðanceaster (see Bosworth); in 13th c. reduced to Baþen, Baþe, Bathe: in 17th c. Bath, in 18th c. sometimes with renewed reference to its spa, the Bath (or allusively the Baths).]
1. a. A well-known city in the west of England, so called from its hot springs.
| 973 O.E. Chron., On ðære ealdan byriᵹ Acemannes ceastre, éac hi, oðre worde, beornas Baðan nemnað. 1130 Ibid. Godefreith of Bathe. 1297 [see prec. 8]. 1562 [see prec. 13]. 1624 Massinger Parl. Love ii. iii, The far-famed English Bath, or German Spa. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 179 ¶7 An Under-Citizen of the Bath. 1727 R. Newton Expl. Univ. Educ. reduced 13 To take Oxford and Blenheim in his Way to the Bath. 1759 H. Walpole Let. H. Mann 25 Sept., I am going to the Bath, with more opinion of..the change of air, than of the waters. (Cf. bath1 13.) |
b. As a place of consignment for a person one does not wish to see again, in the phrase
to go to Bath, chiefly used imperatively.
| 1837 Barham in Ingol. Leg. (1840) Ser. i. 83 ‘Go to Bath!’ Said the Baron. 1858 Thackeray Virgin. I. xvi. 127 She may go to Bath, or she may go to Jericho, for me. 1908 Daily Chron. 27 Oct. 6/6 A later use of the expression was ‘Go to Bath and get your head shaved’. |
2. a. attrib. of natural or artificial productions of the city, or of objects connected with it:
e.g. Bath water(s), etc.
b. Used as a specific description in
Bath-bun,
Bath-chap,
Bath-fagot,
Bath-ring, etc.
c. Bath asparagus, a variety of Star of Bethlehem (
Ornithogalum pyrenaicum) with edible shoots;
Bath-brick, a preparation of calcareous earth moulded in form of a brick, made at Bridgwater; used for cleaning polished metal;
Bath-chair, a large chair on wheels for invalids (both this and the preceding item are often written without a capital B);
Bath-coating, a material formerly fashionable for male attire;
Bath coup, a method of play in whist or bridge in which a player, who holds the ace, knave and another card of the same suit, refrains from taking his adversary's king;
Bath Guide, a popular ‘Society’ poem of the 18th c., sometimes taken as a type of such verse;
Bath-metal, an alloy, consisting of 3 or 4 oz. of zinc to one pound of copper (Ure);
Bath Oliver, an unsweetened biscuit said to have been invented by William Oliver (1695–1764), a physician of Bath; formerly simply
Oliver;
Bath oolite,
Bath-stone, a building stone quarried from the oolite formation near Bath;
Bath-post, a sort of letter-paper;
Bath White (butterfly), a rare European pierid butterfly,
Pontia daplidice, having the under side of the hind wing of a greenish colour spotted with white.
| 1791 Collinson Hist. Somerset I. p. xx, Wood Star of Bethlehem or *Bath Asparagus... The young shoots of it are eaten by the common people as asparagus. 1959 A. R. Clapham et al. Excursion Flora Brit. Isles 445 Very locally abundant in woods and scrub. Bath Asparagus. |
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. vii. i. I. 300 Scanty ill-baked loaves, more like baked *Bath bricks. |
| 1801 Jane Austen Let. 3 Jan. (1952) 101 Disordering my Stomach with *Bath bunns. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. iv. 177 And found that the moon was just the shape of a Bath bun. |
| 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 271 To make *Bath Cakes. |
| 1823 M. Wilmot Let. 30 Apr. (1935) 188 My dearest Mother, do you not make use of a *Bath Chair? 1847 M. Edgeworth Tour Connemara (1950) 109 She cannot walk now beside Honora's Bath chair. 1860 Venables I. Wight 121 Bath chairs are always waiting the arrival of the steamers. 1873 M. E. Braddon Str. & Pilgr. iii. xviii. 389 She..was brought here in a bath-chair. |
| 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xvi, A *Bath chair-man. |
| 1791 J. Lackington Mem. Let. xix. (D.) One [great-coat] made of *Bath-coating. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. i. ix. §3. 123 A waistcoat of Bath-coating or shag. |
| 1897 R. F. Foster Complete Hoyle 613 *Bath Coup, holding up Ace Jack on a King led by an adversary. 1899 W. M. Butler Whist Reference Book 51/1 The Bath Coup. A strategic play at whist which originated at Bath, England, in the time of Hoyle. The fourth hand, holding ace, jack, and others, refuses to take a king when it is led. 1936 E. Culbertson Contr. Bridge Complete xl. 456 The Bath Coup gains time by causing the opponents to waste an entry before they can establish their suit. |
| 1711 Addison Spect. No. 3 ¶7 Little piles of notched sticks, bound up together in bundles like *Bath faggots. |
| 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 92 [He] bepommelled it through three pages of *Bath-guide verses. |
| 1714 Boston News-Let. 7 June 2/2 A blew Coat..with wrought *Bath metal Buttons. 1738 J. Wesley Let. 1 Dec. (1931) I. 276 Could not you purchase for me half a dozen Bath-metal tea-spoons? 1750 Phil. Trans. XLVI. 586 Platina..like Bath-metal, or cast Iron, brittle. 1958 A. D. Merriman Dict. Metallurgy 16/1 Bath metal, a silvery-white copper-zinc alloy which at one time was favoured for cheap table-ware. Approximate composition: Zn 45%, Cu 55%. |
| 1878 Official Guide & Album Cunard Steamship Co. 156/1 *Bath Oliver. 1900 in Ware Passing Eng. (1909) 21/1 ‘Bobs’ fights on ‘Bath Olivers’. 1915 A. D. Gillespie Let. 14 June in Lett. from Flanders (1916) 320 The sausages [bombs] are rather like a Bath Oliver biscuit tin—only not quite so big—full of old nails and rusty scrap-iron. 1928 C. Mackenzie Extremes Meet 123 We had a periscope scare about five hours out from Malta... This time it was a Bath Oliver biscuit tin. |
| 1837 Dickens in Bentley's Misc. I. 53 Four sides of closely-written, gilt-edged, hot-pressed *Bath post letter paper. 1845 Ainsworth's Mag. VII. 26 They beheld their father..repiling the quires of Bath post. c 1865 J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 153/2 The plain Bath or satin post may be employed. |
| 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. I. 118, I send you two dozen of *Bath rings... I don't know how you will approve of the mottoes. 1785 Archæol. VII. 104 (D.) A lock of hair which was so perfectly strong that I had it woven into Bath rings. |
| 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 232 At Vichy, the oolite resembles our *Bath stone in appearance. |
| 1673 J. Locke Let. 14 Feb. in Fox Bourne Life (1876) I. 317 You may possibly bring home with you a new use of our *Bath waters. 1693 E. Clarke Let. 2 Aug. in Rand Locke & Clarke (1927) 379 Whether advisable to drink the Bath water, if she be desirous of it, whilst she is with child. Ibid., Frequently asks if the Bath waters may not be drank here at home with good success. 1723 Lond. Gaz. 6127/3 The Mayor..having appointed Carew Davis..Pumper of all the Bath-waters. 1836 Scenes Commerce 162 The Bath water is hot. |
| 1795 W. Lewin Insects Gt. Britain 62 *Bath White. Daplidice. Linnæus. This is a rare butterfly in England..named the Bath white, from a piece of needle work, executed at Bath, by a young lady, from a specimen of this insect, said to be taken near that place. 1832 J. Rennie Consp. Butterfl. & M. Index, Bath White B. 1885 Kane European Butterflies 9 Pieris Daplidice L. The Bath White. |