bast

Alternative forms

• bass

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English bæst (“bast, inner bark of trees from which ropes were made”), from Proto-Germanic *bastaz (“bast, rope”) (compare the Swedish bast, Dutch bast, German Bast), perhaps an alteration of Proto-Indo-European *bʰask-, *bʰasḱ- (“bundle”) (compare Middle Irish basc (“necklace”), Latin fascis (“bundle”), Albanian bashkë (“tied, linked”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bæst/

Noun

bast (countable and uncountable, plural basts)

1. Fibre made from the phloem of certain plants and used for matting and cord.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 19, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.

   • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 87

     I thought I saw Him in the Long Walk there, by the bed of Nelly Roche, tending a fallen flower with a wisp of bast.

   • 1997: ‘Egil's Saga’, tr. Bernard Scudder, The Sagas of Icelanders, Penguin 2001, page 145

     He had taken along a long bast rope in his sleigh, since it was the custom on longer journeys to have a spare rope in case the reins needed mending.

Anagrams

• ATBs, ATSB, Bats, SATB, STAB, TBAs, TBSA, Tabs, bats, stab, tabs

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bast/, [b̥asd̥]

Noun

bast c (singular definite basten, not used in plural form)

1. bast
2. raffia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɑst/
• Rhymes: -ɑst

• audio

  (file)

Noun

bast f (plural basten, diminutive bastje n)

1. A bark, as on a tree
2. (figuratively) A skin, hide

   Hij liep in zijn blote bast rond.

   He walked around barechested.

Verb

bast

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of bassen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of bassen

References

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

Anagrams

• bats

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /past/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse bast (“bast, inner bark of trees from which ropes were made”), from Proto-Germanic *bastaz (“bast, rope”), perhaps an alteration of Proto-Indo-European *bʰask-, *bʰasḱ- (“bundle”).

Etymology 2

From the verb at basa.

Etymology

From Old Swedish bast, from Old Norse bast, from Proto-Germanic *bastaz. Cognate with English bast and German Bast.

Noun

bast n

1. bast (fibre material)

References

• bast in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)
• bast in Svenska Akademiens ordbok online.