📖 B — The English dictionary · page 11

bass — Everyday, meaning 1: Bass (said «base») means the lowest notes or sounds in music.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A bass is a bass guitar or a double bass, a large string instrument that plays low notes.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A bass is a man with a very deep singing voice.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A bass (said «bas», to rhyme with «gas») is a kind of fish.↗ Example: Turn the bass down — the windows are shaking!↗ · My brother plays bass in a band.↗ · He sings bass in the choir.↗ · We caught a sea bass off the pier.↗ · The bass drum went boom boom.↗ · Low notes are written in the bass clef.↗ · The first to dance in the hot oil were the mullets, the bass followed, then the whitefish, the flounders, and the anchovies.↗

bast — Everyday, meaning 1: Bast is the soft fibre under the bark of some trees, such as lime, used to make rope, mats and shoes.↗ Example: The farmer tied the sheaves with bast.↗ · He wove a mat from strips of bast.↗ · The old man made a bast shoe by the fire.↗

baste — Everyday, meaning 1: To baste is to pour fat or juice over meat while it cooks, to keep it moist.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (old Irish use) A baste is a bailiff, a sheriff's officer who makes people pay or arrests them.↗ Example: Dad basted the chicken with its own juice.↗ · She basted the roast every half hour.↗ · The baste came to the door to take the farmer's cattle.↗

bastille — Everyday, meaning 1: The Bastille was a fortress prison in Paris; on 14 July 1789 crowds stormed it, starting the French Revolution.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (French) bastille means a fort or castle; it sounds like bass-TEEL to an English ear.↗ Example: The Storming of the Bastille began the French Revolution.↗ · Bastille Day is celebrated with fireworks in France.↗ · The Bastille held only seven prisoners when it was stormed.↗ · The crowd tore down the walls of the Bastille.↗ · We learned about the Bastille in history.↗ · French people call the day le 14 juillet.↗

bat — Everyday, meaning 1: A bat is a small flying animal with wings of skin that comes out at night.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A bat is also a stick or club for hitting the ball in games like cricket, baseball and rounders.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To bat means to take a turn at hitting the ball.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: «Not bat an eye» means to not show any surprise.↗ Example: A bat flew out of the cave at dusk.↗ · Bats hang upside down when they sleep.↗ · Bats find insects in the dark using echoes.↗ · He hit the ball hard with the cricket bat.↗ · It's your turn to bat!↗ · She batted first for her team.↗ · Never pick up a bat; tell an adult.↗ · Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly.↗ · and the stork, and the heron after its kinds, and the hoopoe, and the bat.↗ (Torah LEV.11.19, JPS 1917)↗ · Biliteral combinatinnx upon irhich all other combinatinm are bated.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

batch — Everyday, meaning 1: A batch is an amount of something made at one time.↗ e.g. "a batch of cookies".↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A batch is a group of things or people dealt with together.↗ e.g. "a batch of letters", "the next batch of pupils".↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (verb) To batch things means to put them into groups to deal with them together.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (cooking) Batch cooking means making lots of food at once to eat later.↗ Example: Mum baked a batch of chocolate cookies.↗ · Each batch has 24 cupcakes; 3 batches make 72.↗ · The first batch of pancakes burned.↗ · The teacher marked the books in batches of ten.↗ · A new batch of puppies was born at the farm.↗ · The factory checks each batch for faults.↗ · The next batch of pupils will go in after lunch.↗

bath — Everyday, meaning 1: A long container you fill with water and sit in to wash your body (UK; US says bathtub or tub).↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The act of washing your body in it: have a bath (UK), take a bath (US).↗ Everyday, meaning 3: The water in the bath: run a bath.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Verb (UK): to wash a baby or child in a bath.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Baths can also mean a public building with pools where people go to bathe, like the Roman baths.↗ Example: I have a bath every evening.↗ · Dad is running a bath for my little sister.↗ · Bath time is at seven.↗ · Never leave a baby alone in the bath.↗ · Test the bath water with your elbow so it's not too hot.↗ · We put bubble bath in the water.↗ · The birds splash in the bird bath.↗ · Don't use a hairdryer near the bath.↗ · These baths are the first in the world!↗ · A very notable Hebrew expression of Divinatory intuition was BATh QUL, the Daughter of the Voice.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · And Bath-sheba bowed, and prostrated herself unto the king.↗ (Prophets 1KI.1.16, JPS 1917)↗ · And Bath-sheba said: 'Well; I will speak for thee unto the king.'↗ (Prophets 1KI.2.18, JPS 1917)↗ · Bath-sheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah.↗ (Prophets 1KI.2.19, JPS 1917)↗

bathe — Everyday, meaning 1: To bathe means to wash yourself or someone else in a bath (more US; in the UK people more often say «have a bath»).↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To bathe a wound or your eyes is to wash them gently with water.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (UK) To bathe means to swim in the sea, a river or a lake for fun.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To be bathed in light means to be filled or covered with it: the room was bathed in sunlight.↗ Example: Mum bathed the baby before bed.↗ · Bathe the cut with clean water.↗ · We bathed in the cold sea on Boxing Day.↗ · The garden was bathed in golden sunlight.↗ · The Romans bathed together in big public baths.↗ · Lizards sunbathe on warm rocks.↗ · 'I want to go down to the lake, and bathe,' said she.↗ · But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh, then he shall bear his iniquity.↗ (Torah LEV.17.16, JPS 1917)↗ · And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.↗ (Torah LEV.15.5, JPS 1917)↗ · And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.↗ (Torah LEV.15.21, JPS 1917)↗

bathhouse — Everyday, meaning 1: A building with baths for public use, where people go to wash, bathe and relax.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Ancient Roman baths, Turkish baths (hammams), Japanese bathhouses (sento, onsen) and Finnish saunas are all kinds of bathhouses.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (old) A building at a beach where swimmers change.↗ Example: The Romans built a bathhouse in Bath.↗ · The bathhouse had a hot room and a cold pool.↗ · Romans met friends at the bathhouse.↗ · In Japan some people visit a public bathhouse.↗ · We saw the ruins of a Roman bathhouse on our school trip.↗ · Steam filled the old bathhouse.↗

bathrobe — Everyday, meaning 1: A long, loose coat made of soft towelling or cotton, worn before or after a bath or shower.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (US) Any dressing gown worn around the house.↗ Example: Dad came downstairs in his bathrobe.↗ · The hotel gave us white fluffy bathrobes.↗ · She wrapped herself in a bathrobe after her shower.↗ · Hang your bathrobe on the hook behind the door.↗ · Grandpa answered the door in his bathrobe and slippers.↗ · I got a bathrobe with a hood for my birthday.↗

bathroom — Everyday, meaning 1: A bathroom is a room with a bath or shower, a washbasin and usually a toilet.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In the USA and Canada, «bathroom» is also the polite word for any toilet, even one with no bath: «May I go to the bathroom?».↗ Example: I brush my teeth in the bathroom every morning and night.↗ · May I go to the bathroom, please?↗ · Wipe up water on the bathroom floor so nobody slips.↗ · Medicines are kept in the bathroom cabinet out of reach.↗ · Never use a hair dryer near a full bath.↗ · Our house has one bathroom upstairs.↗ · Always wash your hands after going to the bathroom.↗ · Babies must never be left alone in the bathroom.↗ · He tried to stick it on with soap from the bathroom, but that also failed.↗

bathtub — Everyday, meaning 1: A large container for water that you sit or lie in to wash your body; a bath.↗ Example: She filled the bathtub with warm water.↗ · Never leave a baby alone in the bathtub.↗ · The bathtub holds 150 litres of water.↗ · The dog jumped out of the bathtub.↗ · The tap fills the bathtub at 10 litres a minute.↗ · My little brother plays with boats in the bathtub.↗

batman — Everyday, meaning 1: (a name) Batman is a famous comic-book and film superhero who fights crime in Gotham City wearing a bat costume; his real name in the stories is Bruce Wayne.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (old, UK military) A soldier who worked as a personal servant to an officer.↗ Example: My brother dressed as Batman for the party.↗ · Batman lives in Gotham City.↗ · Batman's sidekick is Robin.↗ · Batman uses gadgets instead of superpowers.↗ · The officer's batman polished his boots.↗ · We watched a Batman cartoon.↗

baton — Everyday, meaning 1: A baton is a short stick passed from one runner to the next in a relay race.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A baton is a thin stick a conductor waves to lead an orchestra or choir.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A baton is a stick that some police officers carry.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A baton is a stick twirled by a majorette or drum major in a parade.↗ Example: She passed the baton to the next runner.↗ · Don't drop the baton in the relay!↗ · The conductor raised her baton and the band began.↗ · The police officer carried a baton.↗ · The majorette twirled her baton in the parade.↗ · Our team won the relay because the baton passes were quick.↗ · The old captain passed the baton to a younger player.↗ · A relay team has four runners and one baton.↗ · She now only held the naked skewer, and lifted it up as a conductor lifts his baton at a concert.↗

bats — Everyday, meaning 1: Bats is the plural of bat: more than one flying animal, or more than one stick for hitting a ball.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: As a verb, «she bats» means she takes a turn hitting the ball.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In informal British talk, «bats» means a bit crazy.↗ Example: Hundreds of bats flew out of the cave.↗ · Fruit bats eat mangoes and figs.↗ · Bats sleep upside down in the day.↗ · Put the cricket bats back in the shed.↗ · She bats left-handed.↗ · Bats help by eating mosquitoes.↗ · Some bats live in the roofs of old barns.↗ · My little brother goes bats when he's tired.↗ · Shining glow-worms covered the ceiling, and sky-blue bats flapped their transparent wings.↗ · In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats; (Prophets ISA.2.20, JPS 1917)↗

battalion — Everyday, meaning 1: A battalion is a large group of soldiers, part of an army regiment.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) A battalion can mean a big troop or crowd of followers, as in a tale.↗ Example: He led a battalion of soldiers across the hill.↗ · Drakestail said he could not drag his whole battalion along.↗ · A battalion of ducklings waddled behind their mother.↗ · Dad brought a battalion of cousins to the picnic.↗

batter — Everyday, meaning 1: Batter is a runny mixture of flour, eggs and milk used to make pancakes, cakes or to coat fried food.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A batter is the player who tries to hit the ball in baseball, cricket (usually batsman or batter) or rounders.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To batter means to hit hard again and again: waves battered the boat.↗ Example: Mix the pancake batter until it is smooth.↗ · Pour the batter into the pan.↗ · The batter hit a home run.↗ · Huge waves battered the cliffs.↗ · Fish and chips come in crispy batter.↗ · Do not eat raw cake batter with raw egg in it.↗ · The batter swung and missed.↗ · The old boat was battered by storms.↗ · But come, let us get outside before the elephants arrive and batter down the place."↗ · And he shall set his battering engines against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.↗ (Prophets EZK.26.9, JPS 1917)↗ · and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.↗ (Prophets EZK.4.2, JPS 1917)↗ · And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood in the moat; and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.↗ (Prophets 2SA.20.15, JPS 1917)↗

battery — Everyday, meaning 1: A small object that stores electricity and gives it to torches, toys, phones and remote controls.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A row or group of similar things.↗ e.g. "a battery of tests".↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (In law) the crime of hitting someone.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A set of large guns.↗ Example: The torch needs a new battery.↗ · My phone battery is flat.↗ · A battery has a plus end and a minus end.↗ · Button batteries are dangerous if swallowed.↗ · Recycle old batteries.↗ · The toy runs on two batteries.↗ · Connect the battery to the bulb to make a circuit.↗ · Charge the battery overnight.↗

batting — Everyday, meaning 1: Batting is hitting a ball with a bat, especially in baseball, cricket and softball; it is the turn when your team tries to score.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Batting is also the -ing form of «bat»: hitting something with your hand or a bat.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To bat your eyelashes is to blink them quickly.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Batting is also a layer of soft cotton or wool used inside quilts.↗ Example: Our team is batting first.↗ · He wore a batting helmet to protect his head.↗ · Her batting average is 0.300.↗ · The kitten was batting at a piece of string.↗ · She went in to bat at number three.↗ · He told the lie without batting an eyelid.↗ · The quilt is filled with soft batting.↗ · We practised batting in the nets after school.↗