basin

UK/ˈbeɪsɪn/

basin noun: a wide bowl for washing, sometimes affixed to a wall.

Noun

basin (plural basins)

A wide bowl for washing, sometimes affixed to a wall.
- First, as you know, my house within the city
  Is richly furnished with plate and gold,
  Basins and ewers to lave her dainty hands;c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 13:5
Synonyms:

sink
(obsolete) A shallow bowl used for a single serving of a drink or liquidy food.
- […] Mr. John Knightley, ashamed of his ill-humour, was now all kindness and attention; and so particularly solicitous for the comfort of her father, as to seem—if not quite ready to join him in a basin of gruel—perfectly sensible of its being exceedingly wholesome […]1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC
- They have a good basin of coffee or cocoa for breakfast […]1826, George Wood, chapter 7, in The Subaltern Officer: A Narrative, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, page 109
A depression, natural or artificial, containing water.
- This shortly brought them to a bewitching spring, whose basin was incrusted with a frostwork of glittering crystals […]1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter 31, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC
- The fountains were plashing musically into marble and alabaster basins.1891, Frederic Farrar, chapter 6, in Darkness at Dawn
An area of land from which water drains into a common outlet; drainage basin.
- Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. […] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.2012 January, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 23 May 2012, page 46
A shallow depression in a rock formation, such as an area of down-folded rock that has accumulated a thick layer of sediments, or an area scooped out by water erosion.
An enclosed or sheltered area of water where boats are moored, often equipped with piers, wharves, or docks.
- ‘Wondered if there was any chance of mooring my boat here. Basin’s pretty crowded.’ ‘Nope.’1954, Ian Fleming, “Death of a Pelican”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957

Verb

basin (third-person singular simple present basins, present participle basining or (rare) basinning, simple past and past participle basined or (rare) basinned)

To create a concavity or depression in.
- Then axial subsidence basined the surface of the dome.1925 June, Reginald A. Daly, “The Geology of Ascension Island”, in Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, volume 60, number 1
- Basining is the process that gives the faces of the dies their radius, or concavity. Depending on the production method, the planchet metal flows either toward or away from the center of the dies. The minting facilities "basined" the dies after they were delivered from the Philadelphia Mint's...2003, The Numismatist - Volume 116, Issues 7-12, page 21
To serve as or become a basin.
- To what degree this stress field formed in response to eastward movement of the African plate, to northward movement of the African plate relative to Europe, to basinning of the shelf between the eastern Canaries and Africa, or to other causes is as yet unknown.1976, Günther Kunkel, Monographiae Biologicae - Volume 30, page 77
- The eastward pinching and thinning were caused by the rapid basining of the plateau over the Pasco-Richland area in south-central Washington.1992, John H. Bush, W. Patrick Seward, Geologic field guide to the Columbia River, page 9
To shelter or enclose in a basin.
- A moan as of distant wind or thunder portended something at hand, the approach of which, basinned as we were among high broken ridges, patchy-scrubbed heights, and penned in by a maze of steep-sided gullies or gorges — we had no chance of observing, until it cam down in hurricane strength.1888, Henry Stuart Russell, The Genesis of Queensland
- A row of trees was basined in the latter part of April, and by the latter part of July, a little over three months, there was a remarkable improvement in the appearance of the basined row compared with the check trees.1920, Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, page 16

Proper noun capitalized: Basin

Basin

A census-designated place in Jefferson County, Montana.
A town, the county seat of Big Horn County, Wyoming.

basin meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

basin in Hindi

basin: केदार kedār, कुंड kuṇḍ, तराई tarāī

basin in Tamil

wide bowl for washing: கிண்ணம் kiṇṇam
depression containing water: குட்டை kuṭṭai
area of land that drains into a common outlet: படுகை paṭukai, நீர்ப்பிடிப்புப் பகுதி nīrppiṭippup pakuti
rock formation scooped out by water erosion: பாறைப் படுகை pāṟaip paṭukai

basin in Urdu

basin: ترائی tarāī

basin in Bengali

অববাহিকা, গামলা, খাদা

More languagesFewer languages

basin in Telugu: మడుగు maḍugu
basin in Malayalam: പരന്ന പാത്രം
basin in Kannada: ಬೋಗುಣಿ, ಆಳವಾದ ದುಂಡನೆಯ ಪಾತ್ರೆ, ಬಾನೆ, ಅರಕಿನ ಚಟ್ಟಿ
basin in Punjabi: ਬੇਸਿਨ
basin in Gujarati: કુંડ kuṇḍ
basin in Odia: ଅବବାହିକା
basin in Nepali: बेसिन
basin in Tagalog: palanggana, lababo
basin in Arabic: طَشْت ṭašt, حوض ḥawḍ
basin in Malay: besen, lembangan
basin in Indonesian: wastafel, cekungan
basin in Persian: لگن lagan, تشت tašt, لانجین lânjin
basin in Thai: อ่างล้างหน้า àang-láang-nâa, อ่าง àang
basin in Vietnamese: chảo, lưu vực, bồn địa

Examples of basin in a sentence

Shutting the door on this disorder, he turned back to the kitchen, took Mahailey’s tin basin, doused his face and head in cold water, and began to plaster down his wet hair.1923, Willa Cather, One of Ours, Book One, Chapter 1:
He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity: ¶ ‘Please, sir, I want some more.’1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […]...
A steaming basin of coffee or soup revived them greatly, and even having to decide which of these refreshments they would have, and helping themselves to bread, pulled them together a little.1915, Sarah Broom Macnaughtan, chapter 7, in A Woman’s Diary of the War, New York: Dutton, published 1916, page 99:
There was a stone basin of clear but motionless water, and the heavy reddish-and-yellow arches went round the courtyard with warrior-like fatality, their bases in dark shadow.1926, D. H. Lawrence, chapter 2, in The Plumed Serpent:

All 40 example sentences with basin

Synonyms of basin

sink

Forms of basin

Noun
plural	basins
alternative form	bason
Verb
third-person singular present	basins
present participle	basining
past participle	basined
past	basined
present participle (rare)	basinning
past participle (rare)	basinned
past (rare)	basinned

Plural of basin: basins

Origin of basin

From Middle English basyn, from Old French bacin, from Vulgar Latin *baccinum (“wide bowl”).

Phrases with basin

5 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with basin

Questions about basin

What does basin mean?: Basin means a wide bowl for washing, sometimes affixed to a wall.
What is basin in Hindi?: Basin in Hindi is केदार (kedār), कुंड (kuṇḍ), तराई (tarāī). See Basin meaning in Hindi.
How do you use basin in a sentence?: Shutting the door on this disorder, he turned back to the kitchen, took Mahailey’s tin basin, doused his face and head in cold water, and began to plaster down his wet hair.
What part of speech is basin?: Basin can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce basin?: Basin is pronounced /ˈbeɪsɪn/ (UK).
What is the plural of basin?: The plural of basin is basins.

Words near basin in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-basin.ogg.

Cite this entry: “basin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/basin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.