n.
Pronunciation: ' b ā -s ə n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French bacin, from Late Latin bacchinon
Date: 13th century
1 a : an open usually circular vessel with sloping or curving sides used typically for holding water for washing b chiefly British : a bowl used especially in cooking c : the quantity contained in a basin
2 a : a dock built in a tidal river or harbor b : an enclosed or partly enclosed water area
3 a : a large or small depression in the surface of the land or in the ocean floor b : the entire tract of country drained by a river and its tributaries c : a great depression in the surface of the lithosphere occupied by an ocean
4 : a broad area of the earth beneath which the strata dip usually from the sides toward the center
– ba · sin · al \ -s ə n- ə l \ adjective
– ba · sined \ -s ə nd \ adjective
– ba · sin · ful \ - ˌ fu ̇ l \ noun