Etymology From Middle English bath, baþ, from Old English bæþ (“bath”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþ, from Proto-Germanic *baþą (“bath”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Corresponding inherited verbs are beath and bathe. Cognate with Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish bad (“bath”), Faroese and Icelandic bað (“bath”), German Bad (“bath”).
The act of bathing; an instance of this; the taking of a bath.
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Specifically, bathing by immersing the body in water, rather than through other means, or an instance of this.
Do you prefer baths or showers?
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An act of immersing the body in a specified substance, especially for hygiene, pleasure, or wellness, or a facility for this: e.g. mud bath, steam bath.
Radio-active baths are said to act favourably in a sexual direction. So too with arsenical springs, cold water treatment, and hydrotherapy.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 156:
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The body of liquid one bathes in.
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Broadly A substance or preparation in which something is immersed.
a bath of heated sand, ashes, steam, or hot air
He takes the prepared charcoal used by artists, brings it to a white heat, and suddenly plunges it in a bath of mercury, of which the globules instantly penetrate the pores of charcoal, and may be said to metallize it.1879, Th Du Moncel, The Telephone, the Microphone and the Phonograph, Harper, page 166:
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While the yarn is soaking in its water and vinegar bath, I prepare a selection of dyes for my preferred colorway.2026, Katherine Augustine, “Dyeing in the Baking Aisle”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, page 35:
Etymology From Middle English bath, baþ, from Old English bæþ (“bath”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþ, from Proto-Germanic *baþą (“bath”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Corresponding inherited verbs are beath and bathe. Cognate with Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish bad (“bath”), Faroese and Icelandic bað (“bath”), German Bad (“bath”).
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Commonwealth To wash a person or animal in a bath.
Somewhere to bath the baby: don't invest in a plastic baby bath. The bathroom handbasin is usually a much more convenient place to bath the baby. If your partner is more able, this could be a task he might take on as his, bathing the baby in a basin or plastic bown on the floor.1990, Mukti Jain Campion, The Baby Challenge: A handbook on pregnancy for women with a physical disability., →ISBN, page 41:
For grooming at home, obviously the choice is yours whether you wish to bath the dog in your own bath or sink, or if you want to buy one specifically for the purpose.2006, Sue Dallas, Diana North, Joanne Angus, Grooming Manual for the Dog and Cat, →ISBN, page 91:
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If you find bathing stressfull during the first six weeks, only bath your baby once or twice a week.2007, Robin Barker, Baby Love, →ISBN, page 179:
“Oh, dear no, not me; I never bath, ’tis the cat has been bathing, in a warm sea bath; I’ll tell you how I manage: I bought a large pickle-jar, and so I have it filled every morning with hot sea water, proportionate to the thermometerical heat my finger can bear, and that I stile Tink-a-tink’s bath; in which I immerge him all but his head, for a quarter of an hour; and he looks so pretty, and receives so much benefit, you would be surprised.”1815, anonymous author, The Observant Pedestrian Mounted, volume 3:
A man's home may be handy to the mine, in which case he would not need to lose the bath, but if he lived any distance away he would bath at the mine.1912, James Ward, quotee, “Report on the Royal Commission on Mines”, in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand, Wellington, page 141:
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In a flight of fancy, Millot even wanted to create public bath houses alongside the Seine, so young children could bath in the river’s healthful waters.2007, “Doctors, Regeneration, and the Revolutionary Crucible, 1789-1804”, in Sean M. Quinlan, The Great Nation in Decline (The History of Medicine in Context), Aldershot: Ashgate, →ISBN, page 140:
Parents would bath after all the children had gone to bed or older children sent into the front room.2017 February 9, “Very Early Spring”, in Jean A. Stockdale, My Spring: Royal Times and Ordinary Lives, Troubador Publishing, →ISBN, page 17:
bath
noun
Etymology From Hebrew בַּת (baṯ).
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Units of measureHistorical A former Hebrew unit of liquid volume (about 23 L or 6 gallons).
Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.1769, Bible (KJV), Ezekiel, 45:10–11