Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.

BAST'ARD-ISM, n.

The state of a bastard.

BAST'ARD-IZE, v.t.

1. To make or prove to be a bastard; to convict of being a bastard; to declare legally, or decide a person to be illegitimate. The law is so indulgent as not to bastardize the child, if born, though not begotten, in lawful wedlock. – Blackstone.
2. To beget a bastard. – Shak.

BAST'ARD-LY, adv.

In the manner of a bastard; spuriously. – Donne.

BAS'TARD-ROCK-ET, n.

Dyer's-weed, or wild woad, a species of Reseda.

BAST'ARDS,

An appellation given to a faction or troop of bandits, who ravaged Guienne in France in the 14th century; supposed to have been headed by the illegitimate sons of noblemen, who were excluded from the rights of inheritance. – Mezeray.

BAS'TARD-SCAR-LET, n.

A red color dyed with bale-madder.

BAS'TARD-STAR-OF-BETH-LE-HEM, n.

A plant, a species of Albuca.

BAST'ARD-Y, n.

A state of being a bastard, or begotten and born out of lawful wedlock, which condition disables the person from inheriting an estate. – Blackstone.

BAS-TARN'IC, a.

Pertaining to the Bastarnæ, ancient inhabitants of the Carpathian mountains. – D'Anville. Bastarnic Alps, the Carpathian mountains, between Poland, Hungary and Transylvania; so called from the ancient inhabitants, the Bastarnæ. – D'Anville.

BASTE, v.t. [Sp. bastear; It. imbastire, to baste; It. basta, a long stitch.]

To sew with long stitches; to sew slightly.

BASTE, v.t. [Arm. baz; Fr. bâton, for baston; Sp. baston; It. bastone, a stick or club.]

1. To beat with a stick.
2. To drip butter or fat upon meat, as it turns upon the spit, in roasting; to moisten with fat or other liquid. – Swift.

BAST'ED, pp.

Beat with a stick; moistened with fat or other matter in roasting; sewed together with long stitches, or slightly.

BAS'TILE, n. [Fr. from bâtir, bastir, to build.]

An old castle in Paris, built between 1369 and 1383, used as a state prison, and converted to the purpose of confining men for life, who happened to incur the resentment or jealousy of the French monarchs. It was demolished by the enraged populace in 1789.

BAS-TI-NADE', or BAS-TI-NA'DO, n. [Fr. bastonnade; Sp. bastonada; It. bastonata, from bastone, a stick or staff. See Baste.]

A sound beating with a stick or cudgel; the blows given with a stick or staff. This name is given to a punishment in use among the Turks, of beating an offender on the soles of his feet.

BAS-TI-NADE', or BAS-TI-NA'DO, v.t.

To beat with a stick or cudgel.

BAST'ING, n.

A beating with a stick; a moistening with dripping; a sewing together slightly with long stitches.