Bathe v.

Forms: 1 baðian, beðian, 2–4 baðien, beþien, baþe(n, beðe(n, 4 bathie, -ey, 5–6 bath, 5– bathe. [Common Teutonic: OE. baðian, also bęðian = ON. baða, OHG. badôn, bathôn, mod.G. baden, Du. baden:—OTeut. baþ-ôn, f. baþo-(m) BATH sb.¹ The difference of vowel and consonant between bathe and bath has been developed since the OE. period, through the additional syllable and open vowel of ba-ðian; cf. grass, graze, staf, stave.]

  I.  trans. (Now mostly reflexive or passive.)

  1.  To immerse, as in a bath: a. lit. To immerse (the body, or any part of it) in water or other liquid, for the sake of some effect (e.g., health, warmth, cleansing) promoted by the action of the liquid.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 245. Þer is bernunde pich hore saule to baþien inne.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. ix. (1495), 195. The moder batheth the chylde.

c. 1400.  Maundev., x. 112. Gabrielles welle, where our Lord was wont to bathe him.

1611.  Bible, Lev. xv. 5. [He] shall wash his clothes, and bathe himselfe in water.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VII. 437. Others on Silver Lakes and Rivers, Bath’d Thir downie Brest.

1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 205. He has the convenience of sometimes bathing himself.

  b.  To immerse in other elements or substances, e.g., sand, fire.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Nonne Pr. T., 447. Faire in the sond, to bathe hir merily, Lith Pertelot … Agayn the sonne.

1612.  Drayton, Poly-olb., Frontisp. The Norman Leopards bath’d in Gules.

1849.  Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. i. (1866), 16. The later martyr bathes his fingers in the flames.

  c.  To plunge, or dip, without reference to the action of the liquid.

a. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., C. 211. [Jonah says] Berez me to þe borde, & baþeþes me þer-oute.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 82. In flud Trinacrian thy great oars must deeplye be bathed.

  2.  To apply water or other liquid to anything so as to wet it all over, or moisten it copiously; to lave, perfuse, suffuse, wet, moisten: a. literally.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 206. Ðonne is sio beðianne mid hatan wætre.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 2447. First .ix. niȝt ðe liches beðen, And smeren.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 140. We come to the gates … all bathed in rayne and frosen with yce.

1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. ii. 169. Till we haue … bath’d thy growing, with our heated bloods.

1652.  Culpepper, Eng. Physic., 6. To bath the place grieved … for the Inflammation.

1877.  Chavasse, Adv. to Mother (ed. 13), § 293. Well bathe the eye (allowing a portion to enter it) with vinegar and water.

  b.  said of the action of a river or the sea upon the adjacent banks or land.

1591.  Spenser, Bellay’s Vis., ix. A water, whose out gushing flood Ran bathing all the creakie shore aflot.

1697.  C’tess. D’Aunoy’s Trav. (1706), 52. The River which passes under it bathes a meadow.

1776.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. xix. 537. The river bathed the foot of the walls.

1872.  Bagehot, Physics & Pol., 85. Groups of islands … bathed by the same oceans.

  c.  said of the action of tears, perspiration, or any secretion, in flowing over and wetting the body or its parts.

1578.  T. N., trans. Conq. W. India, 32. His eyes toward heaven, and his face bathed with teares.

1718.  Pope, Iliad, XXIII. 18. Tears bathe their arms, and tears the sands bedew.

1746.  Hervey, Medit. (1818), 166. The laborer, bathed in sweat, drops the scythe.

1790.  Burke, Fr. Rev., Wks. V. 89. Bathing in tears … thousands of worthy men and worthy families.

1875.  Darwin, Insectiv. Pl., vi. 87. When bathed in the secretion.

  d.  (Inverted construction.)

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., I. vi. 100. Had I this cheeke To bathe my lips vpon.

  3.  The phrase ‘to bathe in blood’ includes and often blends 1 and 2, and is generally used fig. to express the great quantity of blood shed.

c. 1300.  K. Alis., 2708. Mony pencel god, Quyk y-bathed in heorte blod.

c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1248. Þay … Baþed barnes in blod & her brayn spylled.

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 3100. Ro[land] … baþede is swerd in hure blod.

c. 1590.  Greene, Fr. Bacon, viii. 79. I will bathe my poniard in the bosom of an Earl.

1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., III. i. 106. Let vs bathe our hands in Cæsars blood Vp to the Elbowes.

1647.  W. Browne, Polex., II. 306. A tyrant which took pleasure in bathing himselfe in humane blood.

1836.  Thirlwall, Greece, II. xvi. 377. His plan … would have bathed Sparta in blood.

  4.  To suffuse, envelope, or encompass, like the air or the sunshine.

1816.  J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. ii. 136. A stream of sunshine bathing The bright moss-roses.

1853.  Kingsley, Hypatia, xiii. 164. Heavenly glory seemed to bathe her from head to foot.

1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxxi. (1856), 272. The Bay of Baffin, bathed in foggy darkness.

1878.  Huxley, Physiogr., 88. An ocean of air bathing the entire earth.

  b.  said of mental influences.

1526.  Skelton, Magnyf., 1490. Bathyd with blysse, embraced with comfort.

1535.  Coverdale, Isa. lxiii. 6. And thus haue I troden downe the people in my wrath, and bathed them in my displeasure.

1857.  Emerson, Poems, 8. The babe … Lies bathed in joy.

  II.  intr. (from reflexive use of 1.)

  5.  a. lit. To take a bath, to plunge or immerse oneself in water or other liquid, so as to enjoy its influence; in earlier usage also, to lie or remain so immersed, to bask.

c. 1200.  Moral Ode (245), in E. E. P. (1862), 29. Pich þat eure wealð · þat sculle baþien inne þo þe ladde vuel lif.

c. 1275.  Death, in O. E. Misc., 180. In ful a bitter bað bathien ich schal naked.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xxiv. (1495), 73. They that bathen temperatly in hote water.

1667.  Milton, P. L., II. 660. Vex’d Scylla, bathing in the Sea.

1765.  Cowper, Lett., 24 June. It is a noble stream to bathe in.

1862.  Stanley, Jew. Ch., v. (1875), 89. The princess came down … to bathe in the sacred river.

  b.  in various transferred and figurative senses: see the transitive uses above, 3–4.

1576.  Ld. Vaux, in Parad. Dainty Dev. He most of all doth bathe in bliss.

1590.  Marlowe, 2nd Pt. Tamburl., II. iii. Now lie the Christians bathing in their bloods.

1656.  Trapp, Comm. Mark i. 35. Shall Christians be bathing in their beds on their Lord’s day?

c. 1720.  S. Wesley, Eupolis, 40. The feathered souls, that swim the air, And bathe in liquid ether there.