base
see also: Base, BASE
Pronunciation Noun

base (plural bases)

  1. Something from which other things extend; a foundation.
    1. A supporting, lower or bottom component of a structure or object.
  2. The starting point of a logical deduction or thought; basis.
  3. A permanent structure for housing military personnel and material.
  4. The place where decisions for an organization are made; headquarters.
  5. (cooking, painting, pharmacy) A basic but essential component or ingredient.
  6. A substance used as a mordant in dyeing.
  7. (cosmetics) Foundation: a cosmetic cream to make the face appear uniform.
  8. (chemistry) Any of a class of generally water-soluble compounds, having bitter taste, that turn red litmus blue, and react with acids to form salts.
  9. Important areas in games and sports.
    1. A safe zone in the children's games of tag and hide-and-go-seek.
    2. (baseball) One of the three places that a runner can stand without being subject to being tagged out.
  10. (architecture) The lowermost part of a column, between the shaft and the pedestal or pavement.
  11. (biology, biochemistry) A nucleotide's nucleobase in the context of a DNA or RNA biopolymer.
  12. (botany) The end of a leaf, petal or similar organ where it is attached to its support.
  13. (electronics) The name of the controlling terminal of a bipolar transistor (BJT).
  14. (geometry) The lowest side of a in a triangle or other polygon, or the lowest face of a cone, pyramid or other polyhedron laid flat.
  15. (heraldiccharge) The lowest third of a shield or escutcheon.
  16. (heraldry) The lower part of the field. See escutcheon.
  17. (mathematics) A number raised to the power of an exponent.
    The logarithm to base 2 of 8 is 3.
  18. (mathematics) Synonym of radix#English|radix.
  19. (topology) The set of sets from which a topology is generated.
  20. (topology) A topological space, looked at in relation to one of its covering spaces, fibrations, or bundles.
  21. (group theory) A sequence of elements not jointly stabilized by any nontrivial group element.
  22. (acrobatics, cheerleading) In hand-to-hand balance, the person who supports the flyer; the person that remains in contact with the ground.
  23. (linguistics) A morpheme (or morphemes) that serves as a basic foundation on which affixes can be attached.
  24. (music) Dated form of bass#English|bass.
    • The trebles squeak for fear, the bases roar.
  25. (military, historical) The smallest kind of cannon.
  26. (archaic) The housing of a horse.
  27. (historical, in the plural) A kind of skirt (often of velvet or brocade, but sometimes of mailed armour) which hung from the middle to about the knees, or lower.
  28. (obsolete) The lower part of a robe or petticoat.
  29. (obsolete) An apron.
    • bakers in their linen bases
  30. 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.
  31. (politics) A group of voters who almost always support a single party's candidates for elected office.
  32. (Marxism) The forces and relations of production that produce the necessities and amenities of life.
  33. A material that holds paint or other materials together; a binder.
  34. (aviation) Short for base leg#English|base leg.
Synonyms
  • (chemical compound that will neutralize an acid) alkali
Antonyms
  • (chemical compound that will neutralize an alkali) acid
  • (end of a leaf) apex
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Italian: sottofondo
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Russian: ба́за
Translations
  • French: base
  • Portuguese: base
  • Russian: ба́за
Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: base
  • Russian: основа́ние
  • Spanish: base
Verb

base (bases, present participle basing; past and past participle based)

  1. (transitive) To give as its foundation or starting point; to lay the foundation of.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page vii:
      Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.
  2. (transitive) To be located (at a particular place).
  3. (acrobatics, cheerleading) To act as a base#Noun|base; to be the person supporting the flyer.
    • 2005, John T. Warren, Laura B. Lengel, Casting Gender: Women and Performance in Intercultural Context, ISBN 0820474193, page 73:
      Apart from time taken out during radio- and chemotherapy, Maurs continued to participate in POW. She would base a flyer in a double balance and make the audience laugh with her clowning antics for two more shows.
Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: basear-se em, ficar em
Adjective

base (comparative baser, superlative basest)

  1. (obsolete) Low in height; short.
  2. Low in place or position.
  3. (obsolete) Of low value or degree.
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗:
      If thou livest in paine and sorrow, thy base courage is the cause of it, To die there wanteth but will.
  4. (archaic) Of low social standing or rank; vulgar, common.
    • 1623, Francis Bacon, De Augmentis Scientiarum
      a peasant and base swain
  5. Morally reprehensible, immoral; cowardly.
    • 1551, Ralph Robinson (humanist) (translator}, More's Utopia
      a cruel act of a base and a cowardish mind
    • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], H[enry] Lawes, editor, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: Printed [by Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, OCLC 228715864 ↗; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, OCLC 1113942837 ↗:
      base ingratitude
  6. (now, rare) Inferior; unworthy, of poor quality.
  7. Designating those metals which are not classed as precious or noble.
  8. Alloyed with inferior metal; debased.
    base coin
    base bullion
  9. (obsolete) Of illegitimate birth; bastard.
  10. Not classical or correct.
    base Latin
  11. Obsolete form of bass#English|bass.
    the base tone of a violin
  12. (legal) Not held by honourable service.
    A base estate is one held by services not honourable, or held by villenage. Such a tenure is called base, or low, and the tenant is a base tenant.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: baixo
  • Spanish: rastrero
Translations Translations Noun

base (uncountable)

  1. (now, chiefly, US, historical) The game of prisoners' bars. [from 15th c.]
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iii]:
      to run the country base
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.8:
      So ran they all, as they had bene at bace, / They being chased that did others chase.
Noun
  1. Alternative form of BASE

Base
Proper noun
  1. Surname

BASE
Noun
  1. Acronym of building, antenna-tower, span, earth



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