basitemporal 
basitemporal (ba-si-tem'po-ral), a. and re. [< 
L. basis, a base, + tempora, temples.] I. a. 
Situated at the base of the temporal region of 
the skull. 
II. . A membrane-bone developed at the 
base of the skull of many vertebrates, as birds, 
opposite the temporal region, underlying the 
true basis eranii (which is developed from car- 
tilage), and on the same plane as the parasphe- 
noid. W. K. Parker. 
basivertebral (ba-si-v6r'te-bral), a. [< basis 
+ vertebral.] Pertaining to the body or cen- 
trum of a vertebra ; central in a vertebra : as, 
basivertebral veins. 
bask 1 (bask), v. [< ME. basken, < Icel. "badhask, 
now bad/tost, bathe one's self, < badha, = E. 
bathe, + sik=G. sich, reflex, pron., one's self; 
less prob. < Icel. "bakask, now bakast, warm 
one's self at the fire, < baka, = E. bake, + sik, 
as above. Cf. Sw. dial, basa sig i solen, bask in 
the sun ; badfisk, fishes basking in the sun ; LG. 
sick baken, warm one's self in the sun, lit. bake 
one's self; North. E. and So. beak, bask, lit. 
bake. For the form, of. busk 1 .] I. intrans. If. 
To bathe, especially in warm water (and hence 
in blood, etc.). 
Basked and baththed in their wylde burblyng . . . 
Mode. Skeltm, Works, I. 209. (N. E. D.) 
2. To lie in or be exposed to a pleasant 
warmth ; luxuriate in the genial heat or rays 
of anything : as, to bask in the sunshine. 
She desires no isles of the blest, no quiet seats of the just, 
To rest in a golden grove, or to bask in a summer sky. 
Tennyson, Wages. 
3. Figuratively, to be at ease and thriving under 
benign or gratifying influences : as, to bask in 
the favor of a king or of one's lady-love. 
Merely to bask and ripen is sometimes 
The student's wiser business: 
Lowell, Under the Willows. 
H. trans. To expose to genial warmth; suf- 
fuse with agreeable heat. 
As I do live by food, I met a fool, 
Who laid him down, and bask'd him in the sun, 
And rail'd on lady Fortune. 
Shak., As you Like it, il. 7. 
Basks at the fire his hairy strength. 
Milton, L' Allegro, 1. 112. 
bask 1 (bask), n. (Xftosfci, v.] Emitted warmth ; 
a genial radiation or suffusion. [Rare.] 
Milton and La Fontaine did not write in the bask of 
court favor. /. D'IsraeK, Calam. of Auth., I. 78. 
bask 2 t, a. [So., prop, baislc, < ME. bask, baisk, 
< Icel. beiskr = Sw. Dan. besk, bitter, acrid.] 
Bitter. [Old Eng. and Scotch. ] 
bask 3 t (bask), i). [E. dial., obs.: see bash 1 .] 
Same as bash 1 . 
basket (bas'ket), n. [< ME. basket; of un- 
known origin. The Celtic words, W. basged, 
Corn, baseed, Ir. basceid, Gael, bascaid (cf . W. 
basg, a netting or piece of wickerwork), are 
mod. and from Eug. The supposed original, 
L. bascauda, which is mentioned by Martial as 
directly of Celtic origin, is defined as a wash- 
ing-tub or brazen vessel, and is prob. not con- 
nected with basket.] 1. A vessel made of 
twigs, rushes, thin strips of wood, or other flex- 
ible materials, interwoven in a great variety of 
forms, and used for many purposes. 
Rude bankets . . . 
Woven of the flexile willow. Dyer, The Fleece, ti. 
2. The contents of a basket; as much as a bas- 
ket will hold : as, a basket of fish. 
Do ye not . . . remember the five loaves of the five thou- 
sand, and how many baskets ye took up ? Mat. xvi. 9. 
3. A measure for fruit, equal in the United 
States to three fifths of a bushel, and in Great 
Britain to about two bushels. 4. Figuratively, 
that which is gathered or placed in a basket or 
baskets ; provision for sustenance or use. 
Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Deut. xxviu. 5. 
Making baby-clothes for a charitable basket. Dickens. 
5. In old stage-coaches, the two outside seats 
facing each other behind. 
Its [London's] fopperies come down not only as inside 
passengers, but in the very basket. 
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 1. 
6. In hat-making, a wickerwork or wire screen 
of an oval shape, for receiving the filaments of 
hair which are deposited on it in the operation 
of bowing. 7. Milit., a gabion (which see). 
8. A protection of wickerwork for the handle 
of a sword-stick. 9. In arch., the echinus or 
bell of the Corinthian capital, denuded of its 
acanthus-leaves. 10. In ichth., the gill-sup- 
port in the lamprey (Petromyzon). it consists of 
cartilaginous arcs depending from the soft representative 
468 
of the backbone and connected by cross-bars. Basket- 
handle arch, see arcAi. Cartilaginous branchial 
basket. See Mar- 
sipobranchii.ttit 
pick of the bas- 
ket, the finest of 
the whole lot or 
number. To be 
left in the bas- 
ket, to remain un- 
chosen or to the 
last, like the worst 
apples, etc. Togo 
,to 
Cartilaginous Branchial Basket of lain- 
(Pttrm> 
column. 
prey {Petromyzon ), depending from verte- 
bral i ' 
(Astrophyton afai 
to the basket' . 
go to prison, with 
special reference to the alms-basket on which prisoners in 
the public jails were formerly dependent for support. 
TO pin the baakett, to conclude or settle the matter. 
basket (bas'ket), v. t. 1. To put in a basket. 
All that come shall be basketed in time, and conveyed 
to your door. Cowper, Correspondence, p. 259 (Ord MS.). 
2. To cover or protect with basketwork. 
Basketed bottles of Zem Zem water appeared standing in 
solid columns. R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 454. 
basket-beagle (bas'ket-be"gl), TO. A beagle 
used in hunting a hare that was slipped from 
a basket to be coursed. 
Gray-headed sportsmen, who had sunk from fox-hounds 
to basket-beagles and coursing. Scott, St. Ronan's Well, L 
basket-button (bas'ket-but"n), TO. A metal 
button with a pattern resembling basketwork. 
Dickens. 
basket-carriage (bag ' ket - kar ' aj), re. A light 
carriage made of wick- 
erwork. 
basket-couching(bas'- 
ket-kou"ching), TO. A 
kind of embroidery; a 
stitch used in embroi- 
dery. See couching, 
basket-fern (bas'ket- 
fern), TO. The common 
male fern, Aspidium 
Filix-mas, from the bas- 
ket-like form of its 
growth. 
basket-fish (bas'ket- 
fish), n. A kind of Me- 
dusa's-head or ophiurian, Astrophyton agassizi; 
a euryalean sand-star of the family Astrophy- 
tidce, found on the coast of New England: so 
named by Governor John Winthrop of Connec- 
ticut, about 1670. The name is given to other species 
of the same genus, all alike remarkable for the extraordi- 
nary subdivision of the rays into minute tendrils, which 
have been estimated to number 80,000. Astrophi/tan ecu- 
ini n in is also called the Shetland argus. Also called bas- 
ket-urchin and sea-basket. 
"Until a better English name be found for it, why may 
it not be called ... a basket-fish, or a net-fish, or a purse- 
net fish?" And so it remains to this day, as the Governor 
of Connecticut first christened it. 
E. P. Wrigh',, Anim. Life, p. 569. 
basketful (bas'ket-ful), TO. As much as a bas- 
ket will hold. 
basket-grate (bas'ket-grat), TO. A grate with 
bars at bottom, front, and sides. 
basket-hare (bas'ket-har), TO. A captive hare 
slipped from a basket to be coursed in the ab- 
sence of other game. 
basket-hilt (bas'ket-hilt). TO. A hilt, as of a 
sword, which covers the hand, and defends it 
from injury. 
Would my sword had a close basket-hilt, to hold wine, 
and the blade would make knives ! 
Beau, and Fl., King and No King, 1. 1. 
You see where his viol hangs by his basket-hilt sword. 
Steele, Spectator, No. 109. 
basket-halted (bas'ket-hil'ted), a. Furnished 
with a basket-hilt. 
basket-hoop (bas'ket-hop), TO. A name in Ja- 
maica of Croton lucidus, an aromatic euphorbia- 
ceous shrub. 
basket-lizard (bas'ket-liz'ard), TO. A book- 
name of lizards of the genus Gerrhosaurus, hav- 
ing a coloration resembling wickerwork. 
basket-of-gold (bas'ket-ov-gold'), TO. The yel- 
low alyssum, Alyssum saxatile. 
basket-palm (bas'ket-pam), TO. The talipot- 
palm of the East Indies, Corypha umbraculi- 
fera. 
basketry (bas'ket-ri), TO. [< basket + -ry.] Bas- 
ketwork or basketware ; basket-making. 
basket-urchin (bas'ket-er"chin), re. Same as 
basket-fish. 
basket-withe (bas'ket-with), n. A twining 
shrub of tropical America, Tournefortia volu- 
bilis, natural order Boraginacece. 
basket-wood (bas'ket-wud), TO. A tall woody 
climber of the West Indies, Serjania polyphylla, 
the slender, supple stems of which are used 
for basketwork. 
Basquish 
basketwork (bas'ket- werk), n. Wickerwork; 
anything made in the form or manner of a bas- 
ket ; specifically, in fort., work composed of 
withes and stakes interwoven, as in wicker con- 
structions of gabions, fascines, hurdles, etc. 
basket-worm (bas'ket-werm), n. Same as 
bag-worm. 
baskingt (bas'king), n. [E. dial., verbal n. of 
bask'**.] A sound thrashing. [Prov. Eng.] 
basking-shark (bas'king-shark), n. A popular 
name of the Cetorhimts maximus (or Selache max- 
ima), one of the largest of the sharks, it is an 
inhabitant of the northern seas, and has been known to 
reach the length of 40 feet. It frequently comes to the sur- 
face and basks in the sunshine. Its food consists chiefly of 
small animals, which are strained from the water by a pe- 
Basking- or Bone-shark (Cetorhinus maximits}. 
culiar development of the gill-structures. The liver is very 
large and yields a great quantity of oil, as much as twelve 
barrels having been obtained from a single individual. 
Other popular names are bone-shark (by which it is gen- 
erally known along the American coast), homer or hoe- 
mother, sailfish, and sunfijih. See Cetorhinidce. 
baslard (bas'lard), re. [< ME. baselard, baslard, 
baselarde, < AF. baselard, < OF. basalart (ML. 
bassilardus, basalardus), appar. (. base, a short 
knife or saber ; but cf . OF. baselaire, bazelaire, 
badelaire, a short sword: see badelaire.] An 
ornamental dagger worn in the fifteenth cen- 
tury, hanging at the girdle in front. Baslards 
were considered^ indispensable to all having claim to gen- 
tility. In a satirical song of the reign of Henry V. we are 
told that 
There is no man worth a leke, 
Be he sturdy, be he meke, 
But he bere a baselard. 
Basmuric, n. See Bashmuric. 
basnet, . See basinet. 
basolateral (ba-so-lat'e-ral), a. Same as bast- 
lateral. 
The Bono-lateral angle [of the scutum]. Darurin. 
Basommatophora (ba-som-a-tof ' o-ra), n. pi. 
[NL., < Gr. jiaaif, base, + O[I/M(T-), eye, + -<j>6pof, 
< <t>epi:tv = E. bear 1 .] A division of pulmonate 
gastropodous mollusks. including those which 
have the eves at the base of the tentacles, as 
in the families Auriculidai, lAmnceidce, etc. : op- 
posed to Stylommatophora. See cut under Lim- 
basommatophorous (ba-som-a-tof 'o-rus), a. 
In conch., having eyes at the base of the ten- 
tacles, as a pond-snail ; specifically, pertaining 
to the Basommatophora. 
bason, TO. and v. t. Same as basin. 
Basque 1 (bask), TO. and a. [Also Bask; < P. 
Basque = Sp. Pg. Basco; ult. = F. Gascon (see 
gasconade), < LL. Fosco(re-), one of the inhabi- 
tants of Vasconia, Gascony. The Basques call 
their language Eskuara.] I. n. 1. One of a 
race of unknown origin inhabiting the Basque 
provinces and other parts of Spain in the neigh- 
borhood of the Pyrenees, and part of the de- 
partment of Basses-Pyr6n6es, France. 2. The 
language of the Basques, supposed to represent 
the tongue of the ancient Iberians, the primi- 
tive inhabitants of Spain. No connection between 
it and any other language has as yet been made out. Like 
the tongues of America, it is highly polysynthetic. It is 
supposed to represent the tongue of a race existing in 
southwestern Europe before the immigration of the Indo- 
European tribes. 
IT. a. Pertaining to the Basques or their 
language. 
basque^ (bask), TO. [< F. barque, appar. with 
ref. to the Basque people. Cf. basquine.] 1. 
(at) The short skirt of the body-garment worn 
by both sexes. (6) A kind of short-skirted 
jacket worn by women, forming the upper part 
of a dress : probably so called because it was 
worn by the Basques. 2f. A dish of minced 
mutton, mixed with bread-crumbs, eggs, etc., 
seasoned and baked. 
basqued (baskt), a. Furnished with or having 
a basque, as a woman's dress. 
basquine (bas-ken'), n. [< F. basquine, < Sp. 
basquina, < Basco, Basque.] An outer petti- 
coat worn by Basque and Spanish women. 
Basquisht (bask'ish), a. and n. [= G. Baskisch ; 
< Basque + -ish 1 .] Basque; the Basque lan- 
guage. 
