basil weed (bazilwed)

[ Dan. bækken = Sw. bäcken ), basin appar. for * baccinus, * baccinum, prop. an adj. form, Let one attend him with a silver bason , Full of rose-water, and bestrew'd with flowers,... And say, Will't please your lordship cool your hands? Shak., T. of the S., Ind., i. 2. As much as a basin will hold; a basinful.3. In the arts and manuf.: ( a ) In hat - making, a ve el filled with boiling water in which the loose mat of felted fur formed on the cone for a hat-body is dipped in the proce of basining (see basin, v. t.), in order to shrink it to the proper size. Also called sizing -kettle. (b) A concave piece of metal on which gla -grinders form their convex gla es. (c) The scale or scale-dish of a balance when concave.-4. A pair of hollow metal dishes clashed together like cymbals to produce sound: formerly beaten when infamous persons were exposed in a cart as a punishment.-5. A basin-shaped ve el hung by chains from the roof of a church, with a pricket in the middle for the serges. See cerge. When of silver, such ve els usually had a bra or latten basin within to catch the wax droppings.-6t. The hollow part of a plate or dish. Silver dishes and plates... in the edges and basins of which was placed gold medals. Pepys , Diary, July 21, 1662. ( N. E. D. ) 7. A natural or artificial reservoir for water. (a) A pond; a bay; a dock for ships. (b) In a canal, a space which enables boats to turn, or to lie and unload, without obstructing the pa age of other boats. (c) The space between the gates in a dock. 8. In geog.: (a) The area drained by a river. The term is ordinarily used only when speaking of a large river, and then includes the entire area drained by the main stream and its tributaries. The line separating two river-systems from each other is the watershed. A closed basin is an area which has no outlet to the sea. In the United States, the Great Basin is that portion of the Cordilleran region which has no such outlet, comprising an area of about 225,000 square miles. (b) A basin shaped depre ion or hollow; a circular or oval valley.-9. In geol., an area over which the stratified formations are so disposed as to show that they were deposited in succe ion within a basin-shaped depre ion of the original surface, thus giving rise to a series of beds which have a general dip toward a common center, especially near the edges of the area. In some instances the basin structure is very marked, as in the case of the Forest of Dean and Inde coal-fields. Sometimes, however, a mere synclinal depre ion of the strata is called a basin; and this is especially the case in the Appal a chi an coal-field, where any smaller area, separated by erosion from the main body of the coal-bearing strata, may be called a basin. The geological basins of London and Paris are especially known and interesting. The rocks of both are chiefly Lower Tertiary, or Eocene and Oligocene, the name sometimes given to that part of the series which is intermediate in age between Eocene and Miocene. The important member of the London basin - the “London clay"is absent from the Paris basin. The Middle Eocene is represented in the Paris basin by an extremely fo iliferous rock, the Calcaire gro ier (which see). The Tertiary of the Paris basin, like that of the London basin, rests on a thick ma of white chalk. This has been completely bored through at various points, for the purpose of obtaining water, which rises above the surface in large quantities at the wells of Grenelle and Pa y, and at other points. 10. In an at.: (a) The third ventricle of the brain. (b) [Cf. F. ba in in same sense.] The pelvis.-11. In entom., a large concavity in a surface; specifically, a concave portion of the metathoracic segment over the base of the abdomen. The basin of the antenna is a concavity in which the antenna is inserted, often limited on the inner side by a carina, as in the ants. Formerly also spelled bason . Barber's basin. See barber. basin (bā'sn), v. t. [ body in the proce of felting, by dipping in the basin of hot water, wrapping in the basining cloth (which see), and rolling on a table. Also spelled bason. The hat is basoned , or rendered tolerably firm. Ure, Dict., II. 784. basinasal (bā-si-nāʻzal), a. [