bast

See also Bast, and bäst

English

Wikipedia

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: /bæst/

Noun

bast (plural basts)

1. Fibre made from the phloem of certain plants and used for matting and cord.
   • 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
• bats
• stab
• tabs

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Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bast/, [b̥asd̥]

Noun

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

1. bast
2. raffia

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɑst/
• Rhymes: -ɑst

• audio

  (file)

Noun

bast f (plural basten, diminutive bastje)

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

   Hij liep in zijn blote bast rond

Verb

bast

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of bassen
2. 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