Basis

Pl. bases. [a. L. basis, a. Gr. βάσις: see BASE sb.¹]

  I.  Literal senses. (Now rarely used: see BASE.)

  1.  gen. The bottom of anything, considered as the part on which it rests or is supported; the foundation, base, foot. arch.

1571.  Digges, Pantom., I. xxx. I iij. The distance of the ship from the basis or foote of the cliffe.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., II. i. 120. Th’shore; that ore his waue-worne basis bowed As stooping to releeue him.

1656.  H. More, Antid. Ath., I. iv. (1712), 143. The basis of the Cedar.

1718.  Pope, Iliad, VII. 545. Whose rage can make The solid earth’s eternal basis shake!

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., IV. iv. III. 155. Triumphal Arches: at the basis of the first of which, we descry [etc.].

  † 2.  The base of a pillar; = BASE sb.¹ 5.

[1532.  More, Confut. Barnes, VIII. Wks. 742/2. The grounde or foote of the piller called in laten basis.]

1677.  Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., I. ii. 64. His Feet, the Basis of the Pillar of his Body.

1716.  Addison, Freeholder, No. 47, ¶ 8 (J.). Observing an English Inscription upon the Basis, he read it over several times.

  † 3.  A pedestal. Obs.

1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., III. i. 115. Cæsar … That now on Pompeyes Basis lye[s] along, No worthier then the dust.

1686.  Aglionby, Paint. Illustr., 367. The Basis likewise is a Balusted of Granite-Stone.

  4.  Bot. and Zool. That part of an organ by which it is attached to its support; = BASE sb.¹ 7. Now only in specific use: see quots. 1870.

1615.  Crooke, Body of Man, 467. A Pine-apple, broade and round in the Basis.

1664.  Power, Exp. Philos., I. 40. The obtuse Tip of this Capsula … shoots itself into the basis of the Liver.

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Antholyza, The upper lip [of the flower] … near its basis has two short jaggs.

1870.  Nicholson, Zool. (1880), 289. A shelly or membranous plate closes the lower aperture of the [Acorn-] shell, and is termed the ‘basis.’

1870.  Rolleston, Anim. Life, 94. The second joint is known as the ‘basipodite,’ or ‘basis.’

  † 5.  A geometrical base: = BASE sb.¹ 9.

1571.  Digges, Pantom., I. vi. C ij b. That subtendente side, or basis.

1661.  Boyle, Examen (1682), 95. A Pyramide … whose Basis is part of the surface of the Atmosphere.

1748.  Hartley, Observ. Man, I. iii. § 1. ¶ 80. The Angles at the Basis of an Isosceles Triangle.

  † 6.  Each of the boards of a pair of bellows. Obs.

1669.  Boyle, Contn. New Exp., I. (1682), 129. Another pair of Tite Bellows made with a very light Clack in the lower Basis. Ibid., I. 109. The Orifice of the Vent in the Basis.

  II.  Transferred and figurative senses.

  7.  The main constituent, fundamental ingredient.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, Gloss., Basis in a compound medicine is that drug or simple which is predominant.

1665.  Phil. Trans., I. 117. Salt, the Basis of all Natural Productions.

1712.  trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 179. Several People make it the Basis of the Liquorice juice.

1867.  J. Hogg, Microsc., I. iii. 225. Colouring-solutions should be always prepared with glycerine … as a basis.

  8.  That by or on which anything immaterial is supported or sustained; a foundation, support.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 32. Great Tyrrany, lay thou thy basis sure.

1686.  W. de Britaine, Hum. Prud., 126. The love of the Subject is the most sure Basis of the Princes Greatness.

1718.  Free-thinker, No. 75. 142. Integrity is the Basis of all Human Prudence.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., II. § 3. 243. This speculation … rested upon a basis of conjecture.

  9.  That on which anything is reared, constructed, or established, and by which its constitution or operation is determined; groundwork, footing: a. a thing material.

1668.  Hale, Pref. Rolle’s Abridgm., 9. This Book will be the Basis of such a Common-place Book.

1808.  Middleton, Grk. Article (ed. 3), I. 485. The critical possessor of the basis filled its margin with glosses and readings.

  b.  a thing immaterial; a principle, a fact.

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., III. ii. 36. Build me thy fortunes vpon the basis of valour.

1622.  Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 423. Where the Basis of Exchange … is made vpon our twentie shillings sterling.

1852.  McCulloch, Taxation, II. vi. 254. Assessing licence duties on such inapplicable bases.

1871.  R. W. Dale, Commandm., vi. 151. If Moses had to regulate our legislation in reference to railway accidents, he would put it on altogether a new basis.

1876.  Green, Short Hist., iv. § 4 (1882), 190. Among the German races society rested on the basis of the family.

  c.  a set of principles laid down or agreed upon as the ground of negotiation, argument or action.

1796.  Burke, Regic. Peace, Wks. VIII. 334. We had gained a great point in getting this basis admitted … a basis of mutual compensation.

1855.  (7 June) Bright, Russia, Sp. (1876), 253. It is necessary therefore to have a basis for our discussion.

1880.  McCarthy, Own Times, III. xxxvi. 129. A basis of legislation was at last agreed upon.

  10.  The tract of country from, and in connection with, which military or other operations are conducted; = BASE sb.¹ 16. lit. and fig.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Cinnamon & Pearls, vii. 124. Colonies are not advantageous to the mother-country as the basis of a peculiar trade.

1865.  M. Arnold, Ess. Crit., vii. 219. [Joubert’s] soul had, for its basis of operations, hardly any body at all.

1865.  Times, 2 Jan., 8/3. To make Canada in reality what these miserable raiders have tried to make it, the basis of operations against the Northern States, would be an act of supreme folly.

  III.  attrib., as in basis-structure, -tissue.

1839–47.  Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., III. 727/1. The basis-substance is … destitute of fibres. Ibid., IV. 878/1. These ‘dental tubuli’ … subdivide rapidly in the hard basis-tissue.