basement

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree English base Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-mentom Latin -mentum Old French -mentbor. Middle English -ment English -ment English basement From base + -ment.

1. A floor of a building below ground level.

   “Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.”

2. A floor of a building below ground level.
3. A mass of igneous or metamorphic rock forming the foundation over which a platform of sedimentary rocks is laid.
4. Last place in a sports conference's standings.