/bay"sis/ , n. , pl. bases /-seez/ .
1. the bottom or base of anything; the part on which something stands or rests.
2. anything upon which something is based; fundamental principle; groundwork.
3. the principal constituent; fundamental ingredient.
4. a basic fact, amount, standard, etc., used in making computations, reaching conclusions, or the like: The nurse is paid on an hourly basis. He was chosen on the basis of his college grades.
5. Math. a set of linearly independent elements of a given vector space having the property that every element of the space can be written as a linear combination of the elements of the set.
[ 1525-35; básis step, place one stands on, pedestal, equiv. to ba-, base of baínein to walk, step (akin to COME) + -sis -SIS; cf. BASE 1 ]
Syn. 1, 2. See base 1 .