English Explanatory Dictionary

bast

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Inner bark of a tree from which rope is traditionally made.
  2. Fibre made from the phloem of certain plants (particularly the lime tree) and used for making ropes, cords and matting.
noun
  1. Bastardy, illegitimacy of birth.
adj
  1. Illegitimate, born out of wedlock.
name
  1. Alternative spelling of Bastet.

Pronunciation

/bɑːst/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bast.wav /bæst/

Word forms

bast basts bass

Etymology

From Middle English bast, from Old English bæst (“bast, inner bark of trees from which ropes were made”), from Proto-West Germanic *bast (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”)).

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