Also 7 basse. [phonetic corruption of BAST sb.1]
1. strictly. The inner bark of the lime or linden; sometimes applied loosely to any similar fiber, e.g., split rushes or straw.
1691. Worlidge, Cider, 54. Fit it aptly to the Stock, and bind it on with … Basse.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Bass … is a sort of long straw or rushes.
1825. R. Ward, Tremaine, I. xxix. 231. A soft bit of wood … bound with bass to the stem.
b. attrib., as in bass-mat.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Cabbage, Wrap … Bass-mat, etc. about the Roots.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. VII. iii. 368. Straw rope shoes and cloaks of bass-mat.
2. The name given elliptically to various articles made of this or similar material; e.g., a mat, a hassock, a flat plaited bag or flexible basket.
1706. Phillips, Bass or Hassock, a kind of Cushion made of Straw, such as are us’d to kneel upon in Churches. Basse, a Collar for Cart-horses, made of Straw, Sedge, Rushes, etc., whence the Bass for kneeling in Churches.
1837. Howitt, Rur. Life, VI. xiii. (1862), 552. Carrying home a bass brimful of vegetables.
1861. Ramsay, Remin., v. 118. You hear him … wipe his feet upon the bass.
3. Building. ‘A short trough for holding mortar, when tiling the roof; it is hung to the lath.’ Nicholson, Practical Builder, 1823.
