BASTE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does baste mean? 

• BASTE (noun)
  The noun BASTE has 1 sense:

1. a loose temporary sewing stitch to hold layers of fabric together

  Familiarity information: BASTE used as a noun is very rare.

• BASTE (verb)
  The verb BASTE has 3 senses:

1. cover with liquid before cooking

2. strike violently and repeatedly

3. sew together loosely, with large stitches

  Familiarity information: BASTE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BASTE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A loose temporary sewing stitch to hold layers of fabric together

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

baste; basting; basting stitch; tacking

Hypernyms ("baste" is a kind of...):

embroidery stitch; sewing stitch (a stitch made with thread and a threaded sewing needle through fabric or leather)

Derivation:

baste (sew together loosely, with large stitches)

• BASTE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they baste    ... he / she / it bastes   
Past simple: basted   
Past participle: basted   
-ing form: basting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover with liquid before cooking

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

baste a roast

Hypernyms (to "baste" is one way to...):

dampen; moisten; wash (make moist)

"Baste" entails doing...:

cook (transform and make suitable for consumption by heating)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Strike violently and repeatedly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

baste; batter; clobber

Context example:

She clobbered the man who tried to attack her

Hypernyms (to "baste" is one way to...):

beat; beat up; work over (give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to baste the prisoners

Sense 3

Meaning:

Sew together loosely, with large stitches

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

baste; tack

Context example:

baste a hem

Hypernyms (to "baste" is one way to...):

run up; sew; sew together; stitch (fasten by sewing; do needlework)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

baste (a loose temporary sewing stitch to hold layers of fabric together)

 Context examples 

I will teach thee! I will baste thee! Aye, by my faith!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then she went and put the fowls down again to the fire, basted them, and drove the spit merrily round.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

A short time after she pursued—"I seed you go out with the master, but I didn't know you were gone to church to be wed;" and she basted away.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mary did look up, and she did stare at me: the ladle with which she was basting a pair of chickens roasting at the fire, did for some three minutes hang suspended in air; and for the same space of time John's knives also had rest from the polishing process: but Mary, bending again over the roast, said only— Have you, Miss? Well, for sure!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)