bast

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See also: Bast, bAst, bäst, and bæst

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English bast, 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

Noun

bast (countable and uncountable, plural basts)

  1. Fibre made from the phloem of certain plants and used for matting and cord.
    • 1912, John Galsworthy, Quality:
      [T]here would be seen his face, or that of his elder brother, peering down. A guttural sound, and the tip-tap of bast slippers beating the narrow wooden stairs, and he would stand before one without coat, a little bent, in leather apron, with sleeves turned back, blinking […]
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      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’, translated by Bernard Scudder, The Sagas of Icelanders, Penguin, published 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.

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

Catalan

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Deverbal from bastar.

Adjective

bast (feminine basta, masculine plural basts or bastos, feminine plural bastes)

  1. (archaic) supplied, furnished, provided
    Synonyms: abastat, proveït
  2. rough, crude
    Synonym: groller

Etymology 2

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *bastum.

Noun

bast m (plural basts or bastos)

  1. packsaddle
Derived terms

Further reading

Danish

Pronunciation

Noun

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

  1. bast
  2. raffia

Inflection

Declension of bast
common
gender 		Singular
indefinite definite
nominative bast basten
genitive basts bastens

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch bast, from Old Dutch *bast, from Proto-West Germanic *bast, from Proto-Germanic *bastaz.

Noun

bast m (plural basten, diminutive bastje n)

  1. inner bark
  2. (zoology) velvet
  3. (figuratively) skin, hide
    Hij liep in zijn blote bast rond.
    He walked around bare-chested.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Verb

bast

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

References

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

Anagrams

Faroese

Pronunciation

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”).

Noun

bast n (genitive singular basts, uncountable)

  1. bast, raffia
  2. rope made of bast
Declension
Declension of bast (singular only)
n3s singular
indefinite definite
nominative bast bastið
accusative bast bastið
dative basti bastinum
genitive basts bastsins

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

bast

  1. supine of basa

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English bæst, from Proto-West Germanic *bast, from Proto-Germanic *bastaz.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

bast (plural bastes)

  2. A cord or cable manufactured using bast.
  3. (rare) Bast; fibre made from the phloem of plants.
Descendants
  • English: bast, bass
  • Scots: bass

References

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French bast (French bât), probably a back-formation from bastard.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

bast (uncountable)

  2. Illegitimacy; the state of being illegitimate.
Derived terms

References

Swedish

Etymology 1

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)
Declension
Declension of bast 
Uncountable
Indefinite Definite
Nominative bast bastet — —
Genitive basts bastets — —
Related terms

Etymology 2

From Tavringer Romani bassj, bassjt, from Romani berś. Cognate to Sanskrit वर्ष (varṣa, “year”).

Noun

bast n

  1. (colloquial) years old
    fylla sjuttio bast
    turn seventy years old
    Mina ungar är fem respektive tre bast
    My kids are five and three years old, respectively
    • 2023 November 10, 27:27 from the start, in Svenska nyheter:
      Jag stod och snorta ladd på en rast / Jag var 11 bast
      I was standing and snorting coke during recess / I was 11 years old
Usage notes

Often when emphasizing an old or (ironically) young age, in a given context.

References

Anagrams

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