Base
[beɪs] or [bes]
Definition
(noun.) a support or foundation; 'the base of the lamp'.
(noun.) a place that the runner must touch before scoring; 'he scrambled to get back to the bag'.
(noun.) (electronics) the part of a transistor that separates the emitter from the collector.
(noun.) installation from which a military force initiates operations; 'the attack wiped out our forward bases'.
(noun.) a flat bottom on which something is intended to sit; 'a tub should sit on its own base'.
(noun.) the principal ingredient of a mixture; 'glycerinated gelatin is used as a base for many ointments'; 'he told the painter that he wanted a yellow base with just a hint of green'; 'everything she cooked seemed to have rice as the base'.
(noun.) the place where you are stationed and from which missions start and end.
(noun.) (anatomy) the part of an organ nearest its point of attachment; 'the base of the skull'.
(noun.) the bottom or lowest part; 'the base of the mountain'.
(noun.) (numeration system) the positive integer that is equivalent to one in the next higher counting place; '10 is the radix of the decimal system'.
(noun.) the bottom side of a geometric figure from which the altitude can be constructed; 'the base of the triangle'.
(noun.) any of various water-soluble compounds capable of turning litmus blue and reacting with an acid to form a salt and water; 'bases include oxides and hydroxides of metals and ammonia'.
(verb.) situate as a center of operations; 'we will base this project in the new lab'.
(adj.) debased; not genuine; 'an attempt to eliminate the base coinage' .
(adj.) illegitimate .
(adj.) having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality; 'that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble'- Edmund Burke; 'taking a mean advantage'; 'chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort'- Shakespeare; 'something essentially vulgar and meanspirited in politics' .
(adj.) of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense); 'baseborn wretches with dirty faces'; 'of humble (or lowly) birth' .
(adj.) not adhering to ethical or moral principles; 'base and unpatriotic motives'; 'a base, degrading way of life'; 'cheating is dishonorable'; 'they considered colonialism immoral'; 'unethical practices in handling public funds' .
(adj.) (used of metals) consisting of or alloyed with inferior metal; 'base coins of aluminum'; 'a base metal' .
Typist: Maura--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Of little, or less than the usual, height; of low growth; as, base shrubs.
(a.) Low in place or position.
(a.) Of humble birth; or low degree; lowly; mean.
(a.) Illegitimate by birth; bastard.
(a.) Of little comparative value, as metal inferior to gold and silver, the precious metals.
(a.) Alloyed with inferior metal; debased; as, base coin; base bullion.
(a.) Morally low. Hence: Low-minded; unworthy; without dignity of sentiment; ignoble; mean; illiberal; menial; as, a base fellow; base motives; base occupations.
(a.) Not classical or correct.
(a.) Deep or grave in sound; as, the base tone of a violin.
(a.) Not held by honorable service; as, a base estate, one held by services not honorable; held by villenage. Such a tenure is called base, or low, and the tenant, a base tenant.
(n.) The bottom of anything, considered as its support, or that on which something rests for support; the foundation; as, the base of a statue.
(n.) Fig.: The fundamental or essential part of a thing; the essential principle; a groundwork.
(n.) The lower part of a wall, pier, or column, when treated as a separate feature, usually in projection, or especially ornamented.
(n.) The lower part of a complete architectural design, as of a monument; also, the lower part of any elaborate piece of furniture or decoration.
(n.) That extremity of a leaf, fruit, etc., at which it is attached to its support.
(n.) The positive, or non-acid component of a salt; a substance which, combined with an acid, neutralizes the latter and forms a salt; -- applied also to the hydroxides of the positive elements or radicals, and to certain organic bodies resembling them in their property of forming salts with acids.
(n.) The chief ingredient in a compound.
(n.) A substance used as a mordant.
(n.) The exterior side of the polygon, or that imaginary line which connects the salient angles of two adjacent bastions.
(n.) The line or surface constituting that part of a figure on which it is supposed to stand.
(n.) The number from which a mathematical table is constructed; as, the base of a system of logarithms.
(n.) A low, or deep, sound. (Mus.) (a) The lowest part; the deepest male voice. (b) One who sings, or the instrument which plays, base.
(n.) A place or tract of country, protected by fortifications, or by natural advantages, from which the operations of an army proceed, forward movements are made, supplies are furnished, etc.
(n.) The smallest kind of cannon.
(n.) That part of an organ by which it is attached to another more central organ.
(n.) The basal plane of a crystal.
(n.) The ground mass of a rock, especially if not distinctly crystalline.
(n.) The lower part of the field. See Escutcheon.
(n.) The housing of a horse.
(n.) A kind of skirt ( often of velvet or brocade, but sometimes of mailed armor) which hung from the middle to about the knees, or lower.
(n.) The lower part of a robe or petticoat.
(n.) An apron.
(n.) The point or line from which a start is made; a starting place or a goal in various games.
(n.) A line in a survey which, being accurately determined in length and position, serves as the origin from which to compute the distances and positions of any points or objects connected with it by a system of triangles.
(n.) A rustic play; -- called also prisoner's base, prison base, or bars.
(n.) Any one of the four bounds which mark the circuit of the infield.
(n.) To put on a base or basis; to lay the foundation of; to found, as an argument or conclusion; -- used with on or upon.
(a.) To abase; to let, or cast, down; to lower.
(a.) To reduce the value of; to debase.
Typed by Anatole
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Ignoble, plebeian, vulgar, untitled, nameless, unhonored, base-born, of low birth.[2]. Vile, low, mean, despicable, contemptible, beggarly, abject, grovelling, sordid, servile, slavish, menial, sorry, worthless, pitiful, low-minded, rascally.[3]. Shameful, disreputable, disgraceful, discreditable, dishonorable, scandalous, infamous.
n. [1]. Basis, foundation, ground, groundwork, lowest part.[2]. (Surveying.) Base-line.[3]. (Chem.) Principal element (of a compound).
Inputed by Gustav
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Vile, dishonorable, low, sordid, ignoble, worthiest, mean, infamous, shameful,grovelling, disingenuous, disesteemed, cheap, corrupt, deep
ANT:Lofty, exalted, refined, noble, esteemed, honored, valued, pure, correct,shrill
Checker: Otis
Definition
adj. low in place value estimation or principle: mean: vile: worthless: debased: counterfeit: (law) servile as opposed to free: humble: (B. and Shak.) lowly.—adj. Base′-born illegitimate.—adv. Base′ly.—adj. Base′-mind′ed of a low mind or spirit: mean.—n. Base′ness.—adj. Base′-spir′ited mean-spirited.
n. an old game played by two sides occupying contiguous spaces called bases or homes off which any player is liable to be touched with the hand or struck by a ball by the enemy and so attached to their sides. Forms of this game are known as Prisoner's Base or Bars and Rounders and the national American game of Base-ball is a development from it.
n. that on which a thing rests: foot: bottom: foundation: support: the chief ingredient as in dyeing and chemistry: the starting-point in a race: the fixed goal across which the ball is struck in hockey the fixed stations at base-ball: the point from which the operations of a campaign are conducted: a measured line serving as a basis for trigonometrical calculations: the surface on which a plane or solid figure stands: (chem.) a term applied to a compound body generally consisting of a metal united with oxygen; (archit.) the foot or lower member of a pillar on which the shaft rests: (her.) the lower portion of the shield—any figure placed on it is said to be 'in base:' a small portion of the base of a shield parted off by a horizontal line is sometimes called a base.—v.t. to found or place on a base:—pr.p. bās′ing; pa.p. based (bāst).—adjs. Bas′al Bas′ilar pertaining to or situated at the base esp. of the skull; Base′less without a base or foundation.—ns. Base′lessness; Base′ment the base or lowest story of a building.—adj. Bas′en-wide (Spens.) widely extended.—n. Base′-plate the foundation plate of a piece of heavy machinery.—n.pl. Bas′es a kind of embroidered mantle which hung down from the middle to about the knees or lower worn by knights on horseback: (Spens.) armour for the legs.—ns. Base′-string the string of a musical instrument that gives the lowest note; Base′-vīol (same as Bass-viol).—adj. Bas′ic (chem.) belonging to or of the nature of a base.—v.t. Bas′ify (chem.) to convert into a salifiable base:—pr.p. bās′ifying; pa.p. bās′ifīed.
v.t. a form of Abase.
Checked by Justin
Examples
- But this base attempt to injure Mr. Pickwick recoiled upon the head of its calumnious author. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- A commanding general cannot base his actions upon either absolute certainty or absolute ignorance. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The movements of the enemy may justify, or even make it your imperative duty, to cut loose from your base, and strike for the interior to aid Sherman. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- The house had stood on a tottering base for a dozen years; and at last, in the shock of the French Revolution, it had rushed down a total ruin. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- You may render me the most miserable of men, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- The use of a megaphone or speaking trumpet for conveying the sound of the voice to a distance is based on the same principle. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- It was a wonderful experience to have problems given me out of the intuitions of a great mind, based on enormous experience in practical work, and applying to new lines of progress. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- There is a conception of education which professes to be based upon the idea of development. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The war of the rebellion was no exception to this rule, and the story of the apple tree is one of those fictions based on a slight foundation of fact. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- And this is right in one sense, as the laws of all countries in respect to protection by patents for inventions are based upon the primary condition of benefit to society. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- In the second place, the interest in experience as a means of basing truth upon objects, upon nature, led to looking at the mind as purely receptive. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- She must be persuaded to tell us, or she must be forced to tell us, on what grounds she bases her belief that you took the Moonstone. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Bases always turn red litmus paper blue. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- The suffragist who bases a claim on the so-called logic of democracy is making the poorest possible showing for a good cause. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In this form the diamond resembles two cones united at their bases, the upper one cut off a short distance from its base, the lower one having its extreme point cut off. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Most fats contain a substance of an acid nature, and are decomposed by the action of bases such as caustic soda and caustic potash. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- This is the reason why children commonly bear their father's name, and are esteemed to be of nobler or baser birth, according to his family. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- The deposition of silver and gold on baser metals not only increases the ornamental effect, but prevents oxidation. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- From the very first this flaming enthusiasm was mixed with baser elements. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- One by one she had detached herself from the baser possibilities, and she saw that nothing now remained to her but the emptiness of renunciation. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- As a matter of course, they fawned upon me in my prosperity with the basest meanness. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Now, my dear Mrs Veneering,' quoth Lady Tippins, I appeal to you whether this is not the basest conduct ever known in this world? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
Checker: Otis