Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BASS, v.t.

To sound in a deep tone. Shak.

BAS'SA, n.

See BASHAW.

BAS'SET, n. [Fr. bassette.]

A game at cards, said to have been invented at Venice, by a nobleman, who was banished for the invention. The game being introduced into France by the Venetian embassador, Justiniani, in 1674, it was prohibited by severe edicts. Encyc.

BAS'SET, v.i. [See Basil.]

Among coal diggers, to incline upward. Thus a vein of coal bassets, when it takes a direction toward the surface of the earth. This is called cropping, and is opposed to dipping. Encyc.

BAS'SET-ING, n.

The upward direction of a vein in a coal mine.

BAS'SET-ING, ppr.

Having a direction upward.

BAS-SET'TO, n.

A tenor or small base-viol.

BAS'SOC, n.

The same as bass, a mat.

BAS-SO-CON-CERT-AN'TE, n.

in music, is the base of the little chorus, or that which plays throughout the whole piece. Bailey.

BAS-SO-CON-TIN'U-O, n.

thorough base, which see under Base. Bailey.

BAS-SOON', n. [Fr. basson; It. bassone, from basso, low.]

A musical wind instrument, blown with a reed, and furnished with eleven holes, which are stopped, as in other large flutes. Its compass comprehends three octaves. Its diameter at bottom is nine inches, and for convenience of carriage it is divided into two parts; whence it is called also a fagot. It serves for the base in a concert of hautboys, flutes Johnson. Encyc. Busby.

BAS-SOON'IST, n.

A performer on the bassoon. Busby.

BAS-SO-RE-LIE'VO, n.

See BASS-RELIEF.

BAS-SO-RE-PIE'NO, n.

is the base of the grand chorus, which plays only occasionally, or in particular parts. Bailey.

BAS'SO-RINE, n.

A constituent part of a species of gum from Bassora, as also of gum tragacanth, and some gum-resins. Ure.

BAS-SO-VI-O-LIN'O, n.

is the base of the base-viol. Bailey.

BASS'-RE-LIEF, n. [In English, base-relief. From It. basso, low, and rilevare, to raise; whence rilievo, raised work. See Lift and Relief.]

Sculpture, whose figures do not stand out far from the ground or plane on which they are formed. When figures do not protuberate so as to exhibit the entire body, they are said to be done in relief; and when they are low, flat or little raised from the plane, the work is said to be in low relief. When the figures are so raised as to be well distinguished, they are said to be bold, strong, or high, alto-relievo. [See Relief.] Encyc.

BASS'-VI-OL, n.

See BASE-VIOL.

BAST, n. [Qu. D. and Dan. bast, bark, or from twisting.]

A rope or cord, made of the bark of the lime tree, bass-wood or linden; or the bark made into ropes and mats. Ash. Bailey.

BAST'ARD, a.

1. Begotten and born out of lawful matrimony; illegitimate.
2. Spurious; not genuine; false; supposititious; adulterate. In this sense, it is applied to things which resemble those which are genuine, but are really not genuine; as, a bastard hope, bastard honors. Shak. Temple. In military affairs, bastard is applied to pieces of artillery which are of an unusual make or proportion, whether longer or shorter, as the double culverin extraordinary, half or quarter culverin extraordinary. Encyc.

BAST'ARD, n.¹ [Arm. bastard; Ir. basdard; Fr. bâtard; D. bastaard; G. bastart; It. and Sp. bastardo; W. bastarz; basu, to fall, whence base, and tarz, growth, issue, a sprout.]

A natural child; a child begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate or spurious child. By the civil and canon laws, a bastard becomes a legitimate child, by the intermarriage of the parents, at any future time. But by the laws of this country, as by those of England, a child, to be legitimate, must at least be born after the lawful marriage. Blackstone. Bastard eigné, or bastard elder, in law, is when a man has a bastard son, and afterwards marries the mother, and has a legitimate son, called mulier puisne, or younger. Blackstone.

BAST'ARD, n.²

A kind of sweet wine. [Not in use.] Shak.

BAST'ARD, v.t.

To make or determine to be a bastard. Bacon.

BAS'TARD-FLO-WER-FENCE, n.

A plant, a species of Adenanthera.

BAS'TARD-HEMP, n.

A plant, a species of Datisca, false hemp.