Obs.; also 4–5 besse, 6 baisse, baas. [partly aphetic f. ABASE v.; partly a. F. baisse-r (= Pr. baissar:—late L. bassā-re, f. bassus: see BASE a.), whence the frequent 16th-c. form baisse.]
1. To lower; to bring, cast, or lay down.
c. 1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 94. Sum best, sum woundyt, sum als slayne.
1580. North, Plutarch (1676), 343. They could not once base their Pikes, nor fight.
1593. Wyrley, Armorie, 50. Sir Eustace … Did baisse his gleaue.
1600. Holland, Livy, XLV. xix. 1213. To base at the feet of … his conquerour, the crowne … which he came unjustly by.
2. To lower in rank, condition or character; to debase, humble, depose, degrade.
1538. Pole, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. ii. lxxxiii. 217. Long continuance in other studies, that baseth the mind.
1559. Myrr. Mag., Warwick, xii. That plaaste and baaste his soverayne so oft.
1626. Breton, Fantasticks (1857), 323. Love … weakneth strength, and baseth Honour.
3. To lessen in amount or value, depreciate; to debase (metals).
1581. W. Stafford, Exam. Compl., ii. (1876), 49. By basing the estimacion of wooll & felles.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 849 (J.). I am doubtfull, whether Men have sufficiently refined Metals, which we count Base.
