BASIL

noun the skin of a sheep tanned with bark.

2. basil ·vt to grind or form the edge of to an angle.

3. basil ·noun the slope or angle to which the cutting edge of a tool, as a plane, is ground.

4. basil ·noun the name given to several aromatic herbs of the mint family, but chiefly to the common or sweet basil (ocymum basilicum), and the bush basil, or lesser basil (o. minimum), the leaves of which are used in cookery. the name is also given to several kinds of mountain mint (pycnanthemum).