[syn: base, baseborn]
7. debased; not genuine;
- Example: "an attempt to eliminate the base coinage"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Base \Base\ (b[=a]s), a. [OE. bass, F. bas, low, fr. LL. bassus
thick, fat, short, humble; cf. L. Bassus, a proper name, and
W. bas shallow. Cf. Bass a part in music.]
1. Of little, or less than the usual, height; of low growth;
as, base shrubs. [Archaic] --Shak.
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2. Low in place or position. [Obs.] --Shak.
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3. Of humble birth; or low degree; lowly; mean. [Archaic] "A
peasant and base swain." --Bacon.
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4. Illegitimate by birth; bastard. [Archaic]
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Why bastard? wherefore base? --Shak.
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5. Of little comparative value, as metal inferior to gold and
silver, the precious metals.
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6. Alloyed with inferior metal; debased; as, base coin; base
bullion.
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7. Morally low. Hence: Low-minded; unworthy; without dignity
of sentiment; ignoble; mean; illiberal; menial; as, a base
fellow; base motives; base occupations. "A cruel act of a
base and a cowardish mind." --Robynson (More's Utopia).
"Base ingratitude." --Milton.
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8. Not classical or correct. "Base Latin." --Fuller.
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9. Deep or grave in sound; as, the base tone of a violin. [In
this sense, commonly written bass.]
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10. (Law) 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.
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Base fee, formerly, an estate held at the will of the lord;
now, a qualified fee. See note under Fee, n., 4.
Base metal. See under Metal.
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Syn: Dishonorable; worthless; ignoble; low-minded; infamous;
sordid; degraded.
Usage: Base, Vile, Mean. These words, as expressing
moral qualities, are here arranged in the order of
their strength, the strongest being placed first. Base
marks a high degree of moral turpitude; vile and mean
denote, in different degrees, the lack of what is
valuable or worthy of esteem. What is base excites our
abhorrence; what is vile provokes our disgust or
indignation; what is mean awakens contempt. Base is
opposed to high-minded; vile, to noble; mean, to
liberal or generous. Ingratitude is base; sycophancy
is vile; undue compliances are mean.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Base \Base\, n. [F. base, L. basis, fr. Gr. ba`sis a stepping,
step, a base, pedestal, fr. bai`nein to go, step, akin to E.
come. Cf. Basis, and see Come.]
1. The bottom of anything, considered as its support, or that
on which something rests for support; the foundation; as,
the base of a statue. "The base of mighty mountains."
--Prescott.
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2. Fig.: The fundamental or essential part of a thing; the
essential principle; a groundwork.
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3. (Arch.)
(a) The lower part of a wall, pier, or column, when
treated as a separate feature, usually in projection,
or especially ornamented.
(b) The lower part of a complete architectural design, as
of a monument; also, the lower part of any elaborate
piece of furniture or decoration.
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4. (Bot.) That extremity of a leaf, fruit, etc., at which it
is attached to its support.
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5. (Chem.) 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.
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6. (Pharmacy) The chief ingredient in a compound.
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7. (Dyeing) A substance used as a mordant. --Ure.
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8. (Fort.) The exterior side of the polygon, or that
imaginary line which connects the salient angles of two
adjacent bastions.
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9. (Geom.) The line or surface constituting that part of a
figure on which it is supposed to stand.
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10. (Math.) The number from which a mathematical table is
constructed; as, the base of a system of logarithms.
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11. [See Base low.] A low, or deep, sound. (Mus.)
(a) The lowest part; the deepest male voice.
(b) One who sings, or the instrument which plays, base.
[Now commonly written bass.]
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The trebles squeak for fear, the bases roar.
--Dryden.
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12. (Mil.) 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.
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13. (Mil.) The smallest kind of cannon. [Obs.]
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14. (Zool.) That part of an organ by which it is attached to
another more central organ.
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15. (Crystallog.) The basal plane of a crystal.
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16. (Geol.) The ground mass of a rock, especially if not
distinctly crystalline.
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17. (Her.) The lower part of the field. See Escutcheon.
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18. The housing of a horse. [Obs.]
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19. pl. 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. [Obs.]
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20. The lower part of a robe or petticoat. [Obs.]
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21. An apron. [Obs.] "Bakers in their linen bases."
--Marston.
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22. The point or line from which a start is made; a starting
place or a goal in various games.
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To their appointed base they went. --Dryden.
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23. (Surv.) 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. --Lyman.
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24. A rustic play; -- called also prisoner's base, prison
base, or bars. "To run the country base." --Shak.
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25. (Baseball) Any one of the four bounds which mark the
circuit of the infield.
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Altern base. See under Altern.
Attic base. (Arch.) See under Attic.
Base course. (Arch.)
(a) The first or lower course of a foundation wall, made
of large stones or a mass of concrete; -- called also
foundation course.
(b) The architectural member forming the transition
between the basement and the wall above.
Base hit (Baseball), a hit, by which the batsman, without
any error on the part of his opponents, is able to reach
the first base without being put out.
Base line.
(a) A main line taken as a base, as in surveying or in
military operations.
(b) A line traced round a cannon at the rear of the vent.
Base plate, the foundation plate of heavy machinery, as of
the steam engine; the bed plate.
Base ring (Ordnance), a projecting band of metal around the
breech, connected with the body of the gun by a concave
molding. --H. L. Scott.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Base \Base\, v. t. [See Base, a., and cf. Abase.]
1. To abase; to let, or cast, down; to lower. [Obs.]
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If any . . . based his pike. --Sir T.
North.
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2. To reduce the value of; to debase. [Obs.]
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Metals which we can not base. --Bacon.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Base \Base\ (b[=a]s), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Based (b[=a]sd); p.
pr. & vb. n. Basing.] [From Base, 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.
--Bacon.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Bass \Bass\ (b[=a]s), n. [F. basse, fr. bas low. See Base, a.]
[1913 Webster]
1. A bass, or deep, sound or tone.
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2. (Mus.)
(a) The lowest part in a musical composition.
(b) One who sings, or the instrument which plays, bass.
[Written also base.]
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Thorough bass. See Thorough bass.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
base
adj 1: serving as or forming a base; "the painter applied a base
coat followed by two finishing coats" [syn: basal,
base]
2: of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense);
"baseborn wretches with dirty faces"; "of humble (or lowly)
birth" [syn: base, baseborn, humble, lowly]
3: (used of metals) consisting of or alloyed with inferior
metal; "base coins of aluminum"; "a base metal"
4: 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"
[syn: base, immoral]
5: 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" [syn:
base, mean, meanspirited]
6: illegitimate [syn: base, baseborn]
7: debased; not genuine; "an attempt to eliminate the base
coinage"
n 1: installation from which a military force initiates
operations; "the attack wiped out our forward bases" [syn:
base, base of operations]
2: lowest support of a structure; "it was built on a base of
solid rock"; "he stood at the foot of the tower" [syn:
foundation, base, fundament, foot, groundwork,
substructure, understructure]
3: a place that the runner must touch before scoring; "he
scrambled to get back to the bag" [syn: base, bag]
4: the bottom or lowest part; "the base of the mountain"
5: (anatomy) the part of an organ nearest its point of
attachment; "the base of the skull"
6: a lower limit; "the government established a wage floor"
[syn: floor, base]
7: the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or
developed or calculated or explained; "the whole argument
rested on a basis of conjecture" [syn: basis, base,
foundation, fundament, groundwork, cornerstone]
8: a support or foundation; "the base of the lamp" [syn: base,
pedestal, stand]
9: a phosphoric ester of a nucleoside; the basic structural unit
of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) [syn: nucleotide, base]
10: 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" [syn: base, alkali]
11: the bottom side of a geometric figure from which the
altitude can be constructed; "the base of the triangle"
12: the most important or necessary part of something; "the
basis of this drink is orange juice" [syn: basis, base]
13: (numeration system) the positive integer that is equivalent
to one in the next higher counting place; "10 is the radix
of the decimal system" [syn: base, radix]
14: the place where you are stationed and from which missions
start and end [syn: base, home]
15: a terrorist network intensely opposed to the United States
that dispenses money and logistical support and training to
a wide variety of radical Islamic terrorist groups; has
cells in more than 50 countries [syn: al-Qaeda, Qaeda,
al-Qa'ida, al-Qaida, Base]
16: (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are
removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem" [syn:
root, root word, base, stem, theme, radical]
17: the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed
for the functioning of a country or area; "the industrial
base of Japan" [syn: infrastructure, base]
18: 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"
19: a flat bottom on which something is intended to sit; "a tub
should sit on its own base"
20: (electronics) the part of a transistor that separates the
emitter from the collector
v 1: use as a basis for; found on; "base a claim on some
observation" [syn: establish, base, ground, found]
2: situate as a center of operations; "we will base this project
in the new lab"
3: use (purified cocaine) by burning it and inhaling the fumes
[syn: free-base, base]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
488 Moby Thesaurus words for "base":
CP, GHQ, HQ, Mickey Mouse, abhorrent, abject, abominable, acid,
acidity, agent, alkali, alkalinity, alloisomer, anchor, angle,
anion, antacid, antecedents, arrant, atom, atrocious, awful,
background, bad, baluster, balustrade, banister,
base of operations, base-minded, baseboard, baseborn, basement,
basis, bearing wall, beastly, bed, bed on, bedding, bedrock,
beggarly, below contempt, beneath contempt, biochemical, black,
blackguardly, blamable, blameworthy, bolster, bottom, bottom on,
brutal, build, build in, build on, buttress, caitiff, call, camp,
caryatid, cation, causation, cause, cause and effect,
center of authority, central administration, central office,
central station, chassis, cheap, cheesy, chemical,
chemical element, chromoisomer, clown white, coarse, cold cream,
collector, colonnade, column, command post, common, compact,
company headquarters, compound, construct, contemptible, copolymer,
core, corrupt, cosmetics, counterfeit, cowardly, craven, criminal,
crude, crummy, dado, damnable, dark, dastard, dastardly, debased,
deficient, degraded, degrading, deplorable, depraved, derive,
despicable, determinant, determinative, detestable, die, dimer,
dire, dirty, disgraceful, disgusting, dishonorable, disreputable,
distance, downtrodden, draw, dreadful, drugstore complexion,
dunghill, dunghilly, egregious, element, emitter, enormous,
establish, etiology, evil, evil-minded, execrable, eye shadow,
eyebrow pencil, factor, fake, fetid, filamentary transistor,
filthy, fix, flagitious, flagrant, floor, flooring, fond, foot,
footing, footstalk, forbidding, forged, form, foul, found,
found on, foundation, foundation cream, fourth-class, frame,
framework, fraudulent, fulsome, fundament, fundamental,
general headquarters, germanium crystal triode, grave, greasepaint,
grievous, gross, ground, ground on, grounds, groundwork,
hand cream, hand lotion, hardpan, hateful, headquarters,
heavy chemicals, heinous, high polymer, hinge, home, homopolymer,
hook-collector transistor, horrible, horrid, humble, humiliating,
hydracid, ignoble, ignominious, imperfect, improper, inadequate,
incompetent, indecent, infamous, inferior, infra dig,
infrastructure, iniquitous, inorganic chemical, install,
insufferable, insufficient, invest, ion, irregular, isomer, jack,
keel, knavish, lamentable, lascivious, lay the foundation, lewd,
line of departure, lip rouge, lipstick, little, loathsome, lousy,
low, low-class, low-down, low-grade, low-minded, low-quality,
low-test, lowborn, lower strata, lowest level, lowest point, lowly,
lumpen, macromolecule, main office, makeup, maladroit, malodorous,
mangy, mascara, mean, measly, mediocre, menial, mephitic, metamer,
miasmal, miasmic, miserable, molecule, monomer, monstrous,
mopboard, mudpack, nadir, nail polish, nasty, naughty, nauseating,
nefarious, neutralizer, newel-post, noisome, nonacid,
not comparable, not in it, notorious, noxious, objectionable,
obnoxious, obscene, occasion, odious, offensive, organic chemical,
ornery, out of it, outrageous, oxyacid, paint, paltry, pavement,
peccant, pedestal, pedicel, peduncle, perspective, petty, pier,
pilaster, pile, piling, pillar, pinchbeck, pitch, pitiable,
pitiful, place, plant, plebeian, plinth, point of departure,
point-contact transistor, poky, pole, poltroon, poltroonish,
polymer, poor, pornographic, port of embarkation, position, post,
powder, powder puff, predicate, principle, profane, prop,
pseudoisomer, puff, punk, pusillanimous, put in, put up,
queen-post, radical, rank, rascally, reagent, rebarbative,
recreant, regrettable, repellent, reprehensible, reprobate,
reptilian, repugnant, repulsive, rest, revolting, ribald, riprap,
rock bottom, roguish, root, rotten, rouge, rubbishy, rude,
rudiment, sad, scabby, scampish, scandalous, schlock, scoundrelly,
scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurrilous, scurvy, seat, seating,
second-best, second-class, secure, seedy, selfish, servile, set,
set on, set up, shabby, shaft, shameful, shocking, shoddy,
shoemold, sickening, sill, sinful, slavish, sleazy, small, socle,
sole, solid ground, solid rock, sordid, sorry, spacistor, spurious,
squalid, staff, stalk, stanchion, stand, standard, standing, start,
starting gate, starting place, starting point, starting post,
station, status, stay, stem, stereobate, stimulus, stinking,
stylobate, subbase, submissive, subservient, substratum,
substruction, substructure, sulfacid, support, surbase, tacky,
takeoff, talcum, talcum powder, tatty, terra firma, terrible,
tetrode transistor, theme, third-class, third-rate, tinny, toe,
too bad, transistor, trashy, trimer, trivial, trunk, ugly, unclean,
underbuilding, undercarriage, undergird, undergirding, underlie,
underlying level, underpinning, understruction, understructure,
undignified, unforgivable, unipolar transistor, unmentionable,
unpardonable, unseemly, unskillful, unspeakable, unwashed,
unworthy, upright, vanishing cream, vanity case, venue, vest,
vicious, viewpoint, vile, villainous, vulgar, wainscot, war paint,
warrant, wicked, woeful, worst, worthless, wretched, wrong
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
base
radix.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
BASE. Something low; inferior. This word is frequently used in composition;
as base court, base estate, base fee, &c.