base

• enPR: bās, IPA^(key): /beɪs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: base
• Rhymes: -eɪs
• Homophone: bass

From Middle English base, bas, baas, from Old French base, from Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis).

base (plural bases)

1. Something from which other things extend; a foundation.
   1. A supporting, lower or bottom component of a structure or object.
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess‎:

        Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.

2. The starting point of a logical deduction or thought; basis.
3. A permanent structure for housing military personnel and material.
4. The place where decisions for an organization are made; headquarters.
5. (cooking, painting, pharmacy) A basic but essential component or ingredient.
6. A substance used as a mordant in dyeing.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ure to this entry?)

7. (cosmetics) Foundation: a cosmetic cream to make the face appear uniform.
8. (chemistry) Any of a class of generally water-soluble compounds, having bitter taste, that turn red litmus blue, and react with acids to form salts.
9. Important areas in games and sports.
   1. A safe zone in the children's games of tag and hide-and-go-seek.
   2. (baseball) One of the three places that a runner can stand without being subject to being tagged out.
10. (architecture) The lowermost part of a column, between the shaft and the pedestal or pavement.
11. (biology, biochemistry) A nucleotide's nucleobase in the context of a DNA or RNA biopolymer.
12. (botany) The end of a leaf, petal or similar organ where it is attached to its support.
13. (electronics) The name of the controlling terminal of a bipolar transistor (BJT).
14. (geometry) The lowest side of a in a triangle or other polygon, or the lowest face of a cone, pyramid or other polyhedron laid flat.
15. (heraldry) The lowest third of a shield or escutcheon.
16. (heraldry) The lower part of the field. See escutcheon.
17. (mathematics) A number raised to the power of an exponent.

    The logarithm to base 2 of 8 is 3.

18. (mathematics) Synonym of radix.
19. (topology) The set of sets from which a topology is generated.
20. (topology) A topological space, looked at in relation to one of its covering spaces, fibrations, or bundles.
21. (acrobatics, cheerleading) In hand-to-hand balance, the person who supports the flyer; the person that remains in contact with the ground.
22. (linguistics) A morpheme (or morphemes) that serves as a basic foundation on which affixes can be attached.
23. (music) Dated form of bass.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden

      The trebles squeak for fear, the bases roar.

24. (military, historical) The smallest kind of cannon.
25. (archaic) The housing of a horse.
26. (historical, in the plural) A kind of skirt (often of velvet or brocade, but sometimes of mailed armour) which hung from the middle to about the knees, or lower.
27. (obsolete) The lower part of a robe or petticoat.
28. (obsolete) An apron.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Marston

      bakers in their linen bases

29. A line in a survey which, being accurately determined in length and position, serves as the origin from which to compute the distances and positions of any points or objects connected with it by a system of triangles.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Lyman to this entry?)

• (chemical compound that will neutralize an acid): alkali

• (chemical compound that will neutralize an alkali): acid
• (end of a leaf): apex

base (third-person singular simple present bases, present participle basing, simple past and past participle based)

1. (transitive) To give as its foundation or starting point; to lay the foundation of.
   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page vii:

     Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.

2. (transitive) To be located (at a particular place).
3. (acrobatics, cheerleading) To act as a base; to be the person supporting the flyer.
   • 2005, John T. Warren, Laura B. Lengel, Casting Gender: Women and Performance in Intercultural Context, →ISBN, page 73:

     Apart from time taken out during radio- and chemotherapy, Maurs continued to participate in POW. She would base a flyer in a double balance and make the audience laugh with her clowning antics for two more shows.

• base on

From Middle English base, bas, from Old French bas, from Late Latin bassus (“low”). Cognate with Spanish bajo and base.

base (comparative baser or more base, superlative basest or most base)

1. (obsolete) Low in height; short.
   • 1594, Shakespeare, William, The Rape of Lucrece, line 664:

     The cedar stoops not to the base shrub's foot.

2. Low in place or position.
   • c. 1595, Shakespeare, William, Richard II, act 2, scene 4, lines 19–20:

     I see thy glory like a shooting star / Fall to the base earth from the firmament.

3. (obsolete) Of low value or degree.
   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, […], printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     If thou livest in paine and sorrow, thy base courage is the cause of it, To die there wanteth but will.

4. (archaic) Of low social standing or rank; vulgar, common.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Francis Bacon

     a pleasant and base swain

5. Morally reprehensible, immoral; cowardly.
   • 1551, Ralph Robynson (translator}, More's Utopia

     a cruel act of a base and a cowardish mind

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     base ingratitude

   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Tragedy in Dartmoor Terrace‎:

     “Mrs. Yule's chagrin and horror at what she called her son's base ingratitude knew no bounds ; at first it was even thought that she would never get over it. […]”

6. (now rare) Inferior; unworthy, of poor quality.
7. Designating those metals which are not classed as precious or noble.
8. Alloyed with inferior metal; debased.

   base coin

   base bullion

9. (obsolete) Of illegitimate birth; bastard.
   • c. 1605–1606, Shakespeare, William, King Lear, act 1, scene 2, line 6:

     Why bastard? Wherefore base?

10. Not classical or correct.

    base Latin

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Fuller to this entry?)

11. Obsolete form of bass.

    the base tone of a violin

12. (law) Not held by honourable service.

    A base estate is one held by services not honourable, or held by villenage. Such a tenure is called base, or low, and the tenant is a base tenant.

• Said of fellows, motives, occupations, etc.

• (low, short): little, petite, short
• (of position): low-lying, lowland
• (of value): See Thesaurus:insignificant
• (vulgar, common): common, low-born, lowly, plebeian, vulgar
• (immoral): See Thesaurus:despicable or Thesaurus:evil
• (of inferior quality): See Thesaurus:low-quality
• (describing metals):
• (of illegitimate birth): See Thesaurus:illegitimate
• (not classical):
• (not held by honourable service):

• likeable
• desirable
• admirable
• noble

Probably a specific use of Etymology 1, above; perhaps also a development of the plural of bar.

base (uncountable)

1. (now chiefly US, historical) The game of prisoners' bars. [from 15th c.]
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     to run the country base

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.8:

     So ran they all, as they had bene at bace, / They being chased that did others chase.

Variant forms.

base

1. Alternative form of BASE

• base jumper
• base jumping

• base on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Base in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• base in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• base in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

• Abes, EABs, EBSA, baes

From Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis).

base f (plural bases)

1. base

• basar
• básicu

From Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis).

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈba.zə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈba.ze/

base f (plural bases)

1. base
2. basis
3. grounding
4. foundation

• basar
• basal
• bàsic

• “base” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbasɛ/

base

1. dative singular of basa
2. locative singular of basa
3. vocative singular of bas
4. locative singular of bas

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaːzɛ/

base f

1. Obsolete form of báze.

base c (singular definite basen, plural indefinite baser)

1. (chemistry) base (generally understood to be a Brønsted-Lowry base)
2. (military) base
3. headquarters

• (headquarters): hovedkvarter

• basis (obsolete in this sense)

Borrowed from French base, from Latin basis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaː.zə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ba‧se
• Rhymes: -aːzə

base f (plural basen, diminutive basetje n)

1. (chemistry) base (class of compounds), alkali

• loog

• zuur

• basisch
• basenpaar
• basenvolgorde
• Lewisbase

• “base” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

From Old French base, from Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis).

• IPA^(key): /baz/, /bɑz/
• (France) IPA^(key): [baz]
• (Quebec, formal) IPA^(key): [bɑːz]
• (Quebec, informal) IPA^(key): [bɑʊ̯z]

base f (plural bases)

1. base (bottom part of something)
2. base (safe place)
3. base, basis (fundamental belief)
4. (chemistry) base

• base de données
• baser

• “base” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

From Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis).

base f (plural bases)

1. base

• basear
• básico

From Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis).

base f (plural basi)

1. base, alkaline
2. basis
3. (figuratively) mainstay

• sommità, altezza

• basare
• basico
• basilare
• di base
• in base a

base

1. ablative singular of basis

Borrowed from Old French base, from Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βᾰ́σῐς (básis), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷémtis.

• bace, bas, baas, basse

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaːs(ə)/

base (plural bases)

1. A foundation or base; the bottom of a building.
2. The foundation, base, or bottom of a column, statue, or vase.
3. (rare) Padding inserted below a horse's bridle.
4. (rare) A hand's palm; the section of a hand below the fingers.
5. (rare) The bottom portion of a dress.
6. (rare, alchemy) The mix of metals used as a base for alchemical operations.

• English: base
• Scots: base

• “bās(e (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-03.

From Old French bas.

base

1. Alternative form of bas

From Old English bærs.

base

1. Alternative form of bace

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈpase/

base

1. inflection of bassit:
   1. present indicative connegative
   2. second-person singular imperative
   3. imperative connegative

From English base, and French base (“in chemistry”)

base m (definite singular basen, indefinite plural baser, definite plural basene)

1. (chemistry, military, general) a base

• “base” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From English base, and French base (“in chemistry”)

base m (definite singular basen, indefinite plural basar, definite plural basane)

1. (chemistry, military, general) a base

• basisk
• database
• marinebase
• militærbase

• “base” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis).

base f (oblique plural bases, nominative singular base, nominative plural bases)

1. base (bottom part; supporting part)

• English: base (borrowed)
• French: base

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (base, supplement)

From Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis).

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbazɨ/

base f (plural bases)

1. basis
2. base
3. (chemistry) base
4. groundwork

• (chemistry): acid

From Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbase/

• Audio (Latin America)

  (file)

base f (plural bases)

1. base
2. basis
3. (linear algebra) basis
   • Base on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es
4. grounding
5. foundation
6. (basketball) point guard
   • Base on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es

• basar
• basal
• básico

base

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of basar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of basar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of basar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of basar.

base f

1. feminine plural of baso