baste
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L316806 on Wikidata ↗verb
- moisten periodically with liquid while cooking
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /beɪst/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English basten, of uncertain etymon, possibly from Old French basser (“moisten, soak”), from bacin (“basin”).
- A basting; a sprinkling of drippings etc. in cooking.
“"Just like a leg of mutton being roasted before a slow fire without any one to give it a baste," groaned the old man.”
verb
Etymology: Perhaps from the cookery sense of baste or from some Scandinavian etymon. Compare Old Norse beysta (“to beat, thresh”) (whence Danish børste (“to beat up”)). Compare also Swedish basa (“to beat with a rod, to flog”) and Swedish bösta (“to thump”). Might be related to French bâton (“stick”) (formerly baston); English baton comes from bâton; see also French bastonnade (“the act of beating with a stick”).
- To beat with a stick; to cudgel.
“July 1660, Samuel Pepys, Diaries One man was basted by the keeper for carrying some people over on his back through the waters.”