I. ˈbās ə n noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English basin, from Old French bacin, from Late Latin bacchinon, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin bacca water vessel, perhaps of non-Indo-European origin; akin to the source of Latin baca berry — more at bay
1.
a. : an open usually circular vessel or dish with sloping or curving sides and wider than its depth used typically for holding water for washing
b. : a container of similar shape: as
(1) : the scalepan of a balance
(2) : a tank or reservoir used for the treatment of liquids
c. : the quantity contained in a basin
2.
a.
(1) : a dock built in a tidal river or harbor and used especially for ships discharging or loading cargo, floodgates serving to keep the water level constant
constructing ships in basins resembling drydocks from which they float out on completion — Time
(2) : a part of a river or canal widened and provided with wharves
b.
(1) : a water area enclosed or partly enclosed by land and suitable for anchorage of ships : a landlocked harbor : a little bay
a basin … provides mooring space for eighty yachts — American Guide Series: Maryland
(2) : a water area artificially enclosed or partly enclosed (as by jetties) that is designed to shelter small craft
rates for mooring boats at boat basins — New York Herald Tribune
3.
a.
(1) : a large or small depression in the surface of the land, the lowest part often being occupied by a lake or pond
the basin of Lake Michigan
(2) : a similar depression in the ocean floor
some 2000 fathoms down, but it still separates broad eastern and western basins — R.E.Coker
b. : an area that does not drain to the ocean
c. : an area largely enclosed by higher lands but having an outlet and being drained
the Big Horn basin
d. : the entire tract of country drained by a river and its tributaries — called also river basin
appropriations for flood control in the Missouri basin — New Republic
e. : a great depression in the surface of the lithosphere occupied by an ocean
the basin now filled by the Pacific ocean — Waldemar Kaempffert
— called also ocean basin
4.
a. : a broad area of the earth beneath which the strata dip usually from the sides toward the center
the Richmond coal basin
— called also structural basin, synclinal basin
b. : a depression of the earth in which sedimentary materials accumulate or have accumulated usually characterized by continuous deposition over a long period of time
a salt basin
c. : rocks of such composition and having such structural and topographic relations as to facilitate the presence of artesian water
an artesian basin
5. : the depression at the apex of an apple or similar fruit
6.
a. : an area enclosed so as to be flooded for subsequent cultivation
a basin for irrigation
b. : a hollow or enclosure made about the base of a tree to receive water for moistening the roots
c. : a small depression or pocket made (as with a basin lister) in a field to check water runoff
II. verb
( basined ; basined ; basining -s( ə )niŋ ; basins )
transitive verb
: to bend down (a part of the earth's crust) in the form of a basin
the rocky surface of Greenland is actually basined as if by the weight of the existing icecap — R.A.Daly
intransitive verb
: to form a basin by erosion