bast

• bass

From Middle English bast, 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”)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɑːst/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bæst/
• Rhymes: -ɑːst, -æst

bast (countable and uncountable, plural basts)

1. Fibre made from the phloem of certain plants and used for matting and cord.
   • 1912, John Galsworthy, Quality:

     [T]here would be seen his face, or that of his elder brother, peering down. A guttural sound, and the tip-tap of bast slippers beating the narrow wooden stairs, and he would stand before one without coat, a little bent, in leather apron, with sleeves turned back, blinking […]

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.

   • 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’, translated by Bernard Scudder, The Sagas of Icelanders, Penguin, published 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.

• (possibly) bastard

• ABTs, ATBs, ATSB, BTAS, Bats, SATB, STAB, TBAs, TBSA, Tabs, bats, stab, tabs

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbast]

Deverbal from bastar.

bast (feminine basta, masculine plural basts or bastos, feminine plural bastes)

1. (archaic) supplied, furnished, provided

   Synonyms: abastat, proveït

2. rough, crude

   Synonym: groller

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *bastum.

bast m (plural basts or bastos)

1. packsaddle

• embastar

• “bast” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

• IPA^(key): /bast/, [b̥asd̥]

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

1. bast
2. raffia

• IPA^(key): /bɑst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bast
• Rhymes: -ɑst

From Middle Dutch bast, from Old Dutch *bast, from Proto-West Germanic *bast, from Proto-Germanic *bastaz.

bast m (plural basten, diminutive bastje n)

1. inner bark
2. (zoology) velvet
3. (figuratively) skin, hide

   Hij liep in zijn blote bast rond.

   He walked around bare-chested.

• boombast

bast

1. inflection of bassen:
   1. second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. (archaic) plural imperative

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

• bats

• IPA^(key): /past/

From Old Norse bast (“bast, inner bark of trees from which ropes were made”), from Proto-Germanic *bastaz (“bast, rope”), perhaps an alteration of Proto-Indo-European *bʰask-, *bʰasḱ- (“bundle”).

bast n (genitive singular basts, uncountable)

1. bast, raffia
2. rope made of bast

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bast

1. supine of basa

From Old English bæst, from Proto-West Germanic *bast, from Proto-Germanic *bastaz.

• baste

• IPA^(key): /bast/

bast (plural bastes)

2. A cord or cable manufactured using bast.
3. (rare) Bast; fibre made from the phloem of plants.

• English: bast, bass
• Scots: bass

• “bast, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-03.

Borrowed from Old French bast (French bât), probably a back-formation from bastard.

• baste, baaste

• IPA^(key): /baːst/

bast (uncountable)

2. Illegitimacy; the state of being illegitimate.

• bastard

• “bāst, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-03.

bast

1. second-person singular present of weese

From Old Swedish bast, from Old Norse bast, from Proto-Germanic *bastaz. Cognate with English bast and German Bast.

bast n

1. bast (fibre material)

• bastfiber
• basthud
• bastkjol
• bastkorg
• bastmatta
• lindbast

Via Månsing cant borrowed from Tavringer Romani bassj, bassjt, derived from Romani berś. Cognate to Sanskrit वर्ष (varṣa, “year”).

bast n

1. (colloquial) years old

   fylla sjuttio bast

   turn seventy years old

   Mina ungar är fem respektive tre bast

   My kids are five and three years old, respectively

   • 2023 November 10, 27:27 from the start, in Svenska nyheter:

     Jag stod och snorta ladd på en rast / Jag var 11 bast

     I was standing and snorting coke during recess / I was 11 years old

Often when emphasizing an old or (ironically) young age, in a given context.

• bast in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• bast in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• bast in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Gerd Carling (2005) “bast”, in Romani i svenskan: Storstadsslang och standardspråk, Stockholm: Carlsson, →ISBN, page 73
• Arthur Thesleff (1912) Stockholms forbrytarspråk och lägre slang 1910–1912‎^[1], page 19

• stab