base¹ /bās/

1. That on which something rests
2. The foot, bottom
3. A foundation, support
4. The part, eg of an organ of a plant or animal, nearest the place of attachment
5. The foot of a pillar, on which the shaft rests (architecture)
6. The side or face on which a geometrical figure is regarded as standing
7. A number on which a system of numeration or of logarithms is founded
8. The chief ingredient
9. An ingredient of a mixture that plays a subsidiary but important part, such as giving bulk
10. In dyeing, a mordant
11. A starting point
12. A standard against which comparisons can be made
13. In make-up, the foundation or first layer of colour applied to the skin
14. A baseline
15. A fixed station in games such as baseball
16. An old game of which prisoners'-base and rounders are forms, and baseball a development (possibly a different word; see bar¹)
17. A place from which operations are conducted or on which they depend
18. Home or headquarters eg of a fleet
19. A compound that reacts with an acid to form a salt, or dissolves in water forming hydroxyl ions (chem)
20. The region between the emitter and collector of a transistor, into which minority carriers are injected (electronics)
21. That element in words to which suffixes and prefixes are added, the stem (philology)
22. The lower part of a shield (heraldry)
23. (in pl) a knee-length pleated skirt worn by medieval knights (Spenser)
24. A horse's housing (Milton)

1. To make or form a base
2. To found or place on a base

bāsˈal adjective

1. Relating to or situated at the base
2. At the lowest level
3. (loosely) fundamental

baseˈless adjective

Without a base or foundation

baseˈlessness noun

baseˈment noun

1. The storey of a building beneath the ground floor
2. An underlying support
3. A complex of igneous and metamorphic rocks beneath sedimentary rock (geology)

basilar /basˈil-ər/ adjective

Situated at the base, esp of the skull

basal anaesthesia noun

Anaesthesia acting as a basis for further and deeper anaesthesia

basal ganglia plural noun

In vertebrates, ganglia connecting the cerebrum with other nerve centres

basal metabolic rate noun

The output of calories per square metre of body surface per hour by a fasting and resting individual

basal metabolism noun

The amount of energy required by a fasting and resting individual

basal plane noun (crystallography)

A crystal face or form parallel to the lateral or horizontal axes

baseˈball noun

1. A team game, played nine-a-side with bat and ball, the players on the batting side attempting to score runs by progressing around four bases on the field
2. A ball used for this game

baseball cap noun

A tight-fitting cap with a long peak

baseˈballer noun

• pursers
• pursership
• purserships
• purses
• purse-seine
• purse-seiner
• purse-seiners
• purse-seines
• purse-sharing
• paedogenesis
• paedogenetic
• paedological
• paedologies
• paedologist
• paedologists
• paedology
• paedomorphic
• paedomorphism
• paedomorphisms
• paedomorphoses
• paedomorphosis
• paedophile
• paedophiles
• paedophilia
• paedophiliac