1805 J. Nicol Poems I. 36 (Jam.) An' gae her a desperate bash on The chafts.

c1817 J. Hogg Tales & Sketches I. 17 (Jam.) Then, giving two or three bashes on the face, he left me.

1949 C. Fry Lady's not for Burning 86 If he wants to fight me, let him come out in the garden. Whatever happens I shall have one bash at him.

1959 Listener 8 Jan. 77/1 A weak, wan lad..escaped with no worse than a bash and a hang-over.

1901 ‘G. Douglas’ House with Green Shutters xxi. 222 Let us go out and do a bash!

1919 J. Buchan Mr. Standfast viii. 167 Ye ken what a man's like when he's been on the bash.

1924 Kelso Chron. 12 Sept. 2/8 The village tailor..had an unfortunate weakness for getting terribly ‘on the bash’ perhaps twice a year.

1936 ‘J. Curtis’ Gilt Kid ii. 23 Most of the time she's on the bash round the flash bars.

1948 Amer. Speech 23 219 One could store or stash food for a big bash. This involved eating two or three days' rations at one time.

1948 D. Ballantyne in Landfall II. 111 He figured what he spent on beer weeknights would total no more than what most jokers spent on their Saturday bashes.

1948 E. Partridge et al. Dict. Forces' Slang 11 Have a bash at, to make an attempt.

1949 L. Feather Inside Be-bop vi. 42 One jazz concert promoter, who in previous years had presented nothing but Dixieland bashes.

1950 Home (U.S.) 2 Apr. 8 (Wentworth & Flexner) Some of these bashes were impromptu at 4 in the morning by trumpet players.

1950 C. MacInnes To Victors the Spoils I. 135 He's decided to have a bash at tightening up the discipline.

1957 J. Braine Room at Top xxiii. 192 I'll have a bash just the same.

1957 I. Murdoch Sandcastle iii. 38 Come on..have a bash. You can translate the first word anyway.

1959 Streetwalker iii. 58 From the hours you keep..I'd say you were on the bash.

1959 M. Shadbolt New Zealanders 156 Jack and I went on the bash every Saturday... Drink all day and pay a visit to the local house at night.

1959 Times 26 May 12/6 Tried some anti-rust oil? Worth a bash.

1961 A. Berkman Singers' Gloss. Show Business Jargon 7 Bash, a ball; party.

1990 Guardian 24 Mar. 24/8 Another man..left behind all his money and belongings when he fled to safety. ‘I lost my bash (home) and all my clothes,’ he said.

1992 Evening Standard 28 Sept. 4/1 (advt.) Matthew..has been living in a ‘bash’ for six months. His parents don't know where he is.

2019 Argus (Brighton) (Nexis) 17 Oct. A rough sleeper..is someone sleeping, bedded down or about to bed down in the open air... It also includes someone in a building or other place not designed for habitation such as a..makeshift shelter known as a ‘bash’.

c1375 Morte Arth. (MS. c 1440) 2857 Bees noghte baiste of ȝone boyes, ne of þaire bryghte wedis!

c1500 King & Hermit in M. M. Furrow Ten 15th-cent. Comic Poems (1985) 265 Thoff I be here in pore clothing, I ame no bayschyd for to bryng Gestys [MS ȝiftys] two or thre.

1594 R. Carew tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne v. 201 He made Semblant, as nought him could dismay or bash.

?c1600 (c1515) Sc. Field (Lyme) l. 366 in I. F. Baird Poems Stanley Family (D.Phil. thesis, Univ. of Birm.) (1990) 245 Because they bashed them at Berwick, that boldeth them the more.

1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle's Log xxiii, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 156/2 A fine preserved pine-apple flew bash on Isaac Shingle's sharp snout.

1950 Leader Mag. 4 Mar. 15/3 Even on a muddy, badly surfaced ground, the bash-on spirit of the riders and the keenness of the supporters is thrilling.

1965 R. Sheckley Game of X (1966) xxii. 155 I didn't like the sound of that; but..there was nothing to do but bash on.

1986 Financial Times 11 Aug. 4/6 Over charities, the Government ‘bashed on with something that would have turned charity tax law upside down,’ he said.

1905 Daily Chron. 26 June 6/5 A ‘bashing’—a barricade of coal and rubbish.