Etymology From Middle English basyn, from Old French bacin, from Vulgar Latin *baccinum (“wide bowl”).
1
A wide bowl for washing, sometimes affixed to a wall.
First, as you know, my house within the city Is richly furnished with plate and gold, Basins and ewers to lave her dainty hands;c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 13:5:
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What then, you will say, must a man sit with his chops and fingers up to the ears and knuckles in grease? No; let those who cannot eat without defiling themselves, step into another room, provided with basons and towels: but I think it would be better to institute schools, where youth may learn to eat their victuals, without daubing themselves, or giving offence to the eyes of one another.1766, T[obias] Smollett, “Letter V”, in Travels through France and Italy. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] R[oberts] Baldwin, […], →OCLC:
Everybody had washed before going to bed, apparently, and the bowls were ringed with a dark sediment which the hard, alkaline water had not dissolved. Shutting the door on this disorder, he turned back to the kitchen, took Mahailey’s tin basin, doused his face and head in cold water, and began to plaster down his wet hair.1923, Willa Cather, One of Ours, Book One, Chapter 1:
2
Obsolete A shallow bowl used for a single serving of a drink or liquidy food.
[…] Mr. John Knightley, ashamed of his ill-humour, was now all kindness and attention; and so particularly solicitous for the comfort of her father, as to seem—if not quite ready to join him in a basin of gruel—perfectly sensible of its being exceedingly wholesome […]1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:
They have a good basin of coffee or cocoa for breakfast […]1826, George Wood, chapter 7, in The Subaltern Officer: A Narrative, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, page 109:
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He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity: ¶ ‘Please, sir, I want some more.’1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
1893, Gilbert Parker, “The March of the White Guard,” in Tavistock Tales, New York: Tait Sons & Co., p. 27, Gaspé Toujours is drinking a basin of tea, and Jeff Hyde is fitfully dozing by the fire.
A steaming basin of coffee or soup revived them greatly, and even having to decide which of these refreshments they would have, and helping themselves to bread, pulled them together a little.1915, Sarah Broom Macnaughtan, chapter 7, in A Woman’s Diary of the War, New York: Dutton, published 1916, page 99:
3
A depression, natural or artificial, containing water.
This shortly brought them to a bewitching spring, whose basin was incrusted with a frostwork of glittering crystals […]1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter 31, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC:
The fountains were plashing musically into marble and alabaster basins.1891, Frederic Farrar, chapter 6, in Darkness at Dawn:
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There was a stone basin of clear but motionless water, and the heavy reddish-and-yellow arches went round the courtyard with warrior-like fatality, their bases in dark shadow.1926, D. H. Lawrence, chapter 2, in The Plumed Serpent:
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Geography, Natural sciences An area of land from which water drains into a common outlet; drainage basin.
Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. […] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.2012 January 23, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 23 May 2012, page 46:
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Geography, Natural sciences A shallow depression in a rock formation, such as an area of down-folded rock that has accumulated a thick layer of sediments, or an area scooped out by water erosion.
6
An enclosed or sheltered area of water where boats are moored, often equipped with piers, wharves, or docks.
‘Wondered if there was any chance of mooring my boat here. Basin’s pretty crowded.’ ‘Nope.’1954, Ian Fleming, “Death of a Pelican”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957:
Basin in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
basin
verb
Etymology From Middle English basyn, from Old French bacin, from Vulgar Latin *baccinum (“wide bowl”).
1
To create a concavity or depression in.
Then axial subsidence basined the surface of the dome.1925 June, Reginald A. Daly, “The Geology of Ascension Island”, in Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, volume 60, number 1:
Basining is the process that gives the faces of the dies their radius, or concavity. Depending on the production method, the planchet metal flows either toward or away from the center of the dies. The minting facilities "basined" the dies after they were delivered from the Philadelphia Mint's Engraving Department.2003, The Numismatist - Volume 116, Issues 7-12, page 21:
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Of course, this is exactly what did happen—the antiquated practice of basining the dies was cast aside for the Lincoln Cent.2005, David W. Lange, The Complete Guide to Lincoln Cents, page 8:
Scandinavia was basined under the load of the last or so-called Würm ice-cap.2013, Johannes Herman Frederik Umbgrove, Symphony of the Earth, page 47:
2
To serve as or become a basin.
To what degree this stress field formed in response to eastward movement of the African plate, to northward movement of the African plate relative to Europe, to basinning of the shelf between the eastern Canaries and Africa, or to other causes is as yet unknown.1976, Günther Kunkel, Monographiae Biologicae - Volume 30, page 77:
The eastward pinching and thinning were caused by the rapid basining of the plateau over the Pasco-Richland area in south-central Washington.1992, John H. Bush, W. Patrick Seward, Geologic field guide to the Columbia River, page 9:
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Walls basined at a ca. 45° angle on the southwest side, but on the west and north there was little basining, with the floor sloping gently up to the original ground surface.2009, Richard K. Talbot, Lane D. Richens, Shifting Sands: The Archaeology of Sand Hollow, page 90:
Deformation of the rocks involved in anticline formation increased as deformation of the rocks involved in basining decreased, and the less intense structures of the norfold facies developed in both regions.2012, E. Hansen, Strain Facies, page 133:
3
To shelter or enclose in a basin.
A moan as of distant wind or thunder portended something at hand, the approach of which, basinned as we were among high broken ridges, patchy-scrubbed heights, and penned in by a maze of steep-sided gullies or gorges — we had no chance of observing, until it cam down in hurricane strength.1888, Henry Stuart Russell, The Genesis of Queensland:
A row of trees was basined in the latter part of April, and by the latter part of July, a little over three months, there was a remarkable improvement in the appearance of the basined row compared with the check trees.1920, Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, page 16:
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Caesar's subjects bathed in Caesar's blood basinned in the purple pool of Calpurnia's dream; my sister slept in an ogre's thought and woke up on the hook of a cannibal finger.1957, Quest - Volumes 13-19, page 28:
They took a narrow path through the snow, up the hill which basined the village, and on to a plateau, a stretch of sparsely treed land.2007, The Legal Studies Forum - Volume 31, page 1103:
Well back under this natural shelter, basined in the hollowed rock, a blessed pool of fair water lay unwrinkled by even a flutter of breeze.2012, Charles King, An Apache Princess: A Tale of the Indian Frontier, page 173: