See Also: Base(money)
Base in DNA(health)
base(4)(dictionary)
base(3)(dictionary)
base(2)(dictionary)
base(1)(dictionary)
E-base(health)
BASE(law)
Base(health)
Base(medicine)

base(2) (iou)



base noun1. ME.
[Old & mod. French, or directly from Latin BASIS.]
I.
The part of a column between the shaft and the pedestal or pavement; the pedestal of a statue. ME.
Nation They toppled the statue of Mussolini..and inscribed a motto on its base.
gen. Something on which a thing stands or by which it is supported. LME.
A. Wilson They passed the magnolia tree, around whose base lay the last fallen petals. J. Irving There was a flat shelf at the base of the slope.
b. Geometry. The line or surface of a plane or solid figure on which it is regarded as standing. L16.
c. Heraldry. The lower part of a shield. E17.
d. Botany & Zoology. The extremity of a part or organ by which it is attached to the trunk or main part. M18.
e. Surveying. A known line used as a geometrical basis for trigonometry. M19.
fig. A fundamental principle; a foundation. L15.
R. L. Stevenson A man who has a few friends..cannot forget on how precarious a base his happiness reposes. G. Murray That is my feeling, and there must be some base for it.
The principal ingredient, the fundamental element. L15.
J. C. Oates He brewed a special concoction of poison, with an arsenic base.
A starting-point, goal-line, or station in certain games; esp. in Baseball, each of the four stations that must be reached in turn when scoring a run. L17.
G. Greene It was like that child's game when you..are sent back to base to start again. C. Potok Mr Galanter always began a ball game by putting me at second base.
Chemistry. Any substance which is capable of combining with an acid to form a salt (including, but wider than, alkali). Also, in mod. use, any species capable of donating pairs of electrons or of accepting protons. E19.
b. spec. in Biochemistry. Any of the purine or pyrimidine groups present in nucleotides and nucleic acids. M20.
Math. The number from whose various powers a system of counting, logarithms, etc., proceeds. E19.
T. Lehrer Base eight is just like base ten reallyif you're missing two fingers.
A town, camp, harbour, airfield, etc., from which (esp. military) operations are conducted and where stores and supporting facilities are concentrated; a centre of operations, a headquarters. M19.
S. Sassoon He had been two years with a fighting battalion and was now down at the Base for good. N. Monsarrat Malta was a base for bombers as well. M. Arnold-Forster Halsey's immediate objective was the Japanese air base at Munda. E. Heath The YMCA hostel..provided us with a base for the next few days.
Grammar. A root or stem as the origin of a word or as the element from which a derivative is formed by affixation etc. M19.
The middle part of a transistor, between collector and emitter. M20.
A notional structure or entity conceived of as underlying some system of activity or operations; the resources etc. on which something draws or depends for its operation. Usu. with specifying word. M20.
database: see DATA.
Economist After its customer base, IBM's biggest asset is that $1 billion annual R&D budget.
II.
sing. & (usu.) in pl. A pleated skirt appended to a doublet, reaching from the waist to the knee; an imitation of this in mailed armour for man or horse. Also, the skirt of a woman's outer petticoat or robe. obsolete exc. Hist. LME.
Phrases: base on balls Baseball a batter's advance to the first base when the pitcher has delivered four balls outside specified limits (see BALL noun1 2c). conjugate base: see CONJUGATE adjective. get to first base N. Amer. slang achieve the first step towards one's objective. NAVAL base. off base N. Amer. slang (a) mistaken; (b) unprepared, unawares. off one's base US slang mistaken. power base: see POWER noun. Schiff base, Schiff's base: see SCHIFF. SEMIDINE base. touch base: see TOUCH verb.
Comb.: baseband the waveband occupied by the modulating signals of a carrier wave, or of signals transmitted without a carrier wave; baseboard a board forming a base; spec. (N. Amer.) a skirting-board; base hit Baseball a hit enabling the batter to reach a base safely; base level Geology a level representing a lower limit of erosion; baseline a starting-line, a reference line; esp. (a) the back line at each end of the court in tennis, badminton, etc.; (b) Typography the imaginary straight line through the feet of most letters in a line of type; base load the permanent minimum load that a power supply system is required to deliver; baseman Baseball a fielder stationed near the specified (first, second, or third) base; base-pair Biochemistry a pair of complementary bases, one in each strand of double-stranded nucleic acid, held together by a hydrogen bond; base pay = basic pay s.v. BASIC adjective 1b; base rate a standard minimum rate, esp. of interest charged or allowed by a bank (generally, or US in particular circumstances); base-runner Baseball a member of the batting team at a base or running between bases; base-running Baseball running between bases; bases-loaded adjective (Baseball) made or occurring with runners occupying the first, second, and third bases; base-stealer Baseball a base-runner who advances to the next base when no hit or error has been made; base-stealing Baseball advancing to the next base when no hit or error has been made.