Word.ws English Dictionary

bask

UK/bɑːsk//bæsk/

bask verb: to bathe in warmth; to be exposed to pleasant heat.

Verb

bask (third-person singular simple present basks, present participle basking, simple past and past participle basked)

  1. (intransitive, usually) To bathe in warmth; to be exposed to pleasant heat.
    • to bask in the sun
    • She shivered until she got to the cozy fireplace, where she could bask in the heat coming off it.
    1. (intransitive, usually) To expose oneself to heat, especially sunlight, in order to raise body temperature, as a form of thermoregulation.
      • My lizard likes to spend his days basking on the stone near the lamp.
  2. (figuratively, intransitive, usually) To take great pleasure or satisfaction; to feel warmth or happiness.
    • to bask in someone’s favour
    • I basked in her love.

Noun

bask (plural basks)

  1. The act of bathing in warmth.
    • Most cats enjoy a bask in the sunshine.
  2. (collective) A group of crocodiles.
    • The threat of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to health systems in subSaharan Africa (SSA) can be compared metaphorically to a lake in Africa infested with a bask of crocodiles and the saying “the eye of the crocodile.”2020 March, “COVID-19 threatens health systems in sub-Saharan Africa: the eye of the crocodile”, in Journal of Clinical Investigation, volume 130, number 6, page 2741
    • After crossing half a kilometre, we saw a bask of crocodiles sleeping at the river bank.2021, Ramani Ranjan Khuntia, Don't Kill Me: Earth Is My Mother, Notion Press

bask meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

bask in Tamil

குளிர் காய்தல், இளைப்பாறுதல்

bask in Urdu

دھوپ سینکنا

bask in Bengali

রোদ পোহানো, উত্তাপ নেওয়া

bask in Malayalam

ചൂടേൽക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
bask in Kannada
ಬಿಸಿಲು ಕಾಯಿಸು, ಬೆಂಕಿ ಕಾಯಿಸು, ಹಾಯಾಗಿರು, ಆನಂದದಲ್ಲಿರು
bask in Punjabi
ਸੇਕਣਾ sekṇā
bask in Assamese
পুৱা pua, পুঁওৱা pũüa
bask in Thai
ผิง pǐng, ผิงแดด, ผิงไฟ

Examples of bask in a sentence

  • The naked Negro, panting at the line, / Baſks in the glare, or ſtems the tepid wave, / And thanks his Gods for all the good they gave.1764 December 19 (indicated as 1765), Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, or A Prospect of Society. A Poem. […], London: […] J[ohn] Newbery...
  • There will be no problems with visibility, or the highly changeable Highland weather, as Scotland basks in what is reported to be the country's hottest September day for more than a century.2021 October 20, Paul Stephen, “Leisure and Pleasure on the Far North Line”, in RAIL, number 942, page 48:
  • On this evidence they will certainly face tougher tests, as a depleted Newcastle side seemed to bask in the relative security of being ninth in the table2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport:
  • the bask of crocodiles is presented from above, while the herd of hippos is shown in profile.2011, Diana Craig Patch, Marianne Eaton-Krauss, Susan J. Allen, Dawn of Egyptian Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, page 32:

All 31 example sentences with bask

Forms of bask

Verb
third-person singular presentbasks
present participlebasking
past participlebasked
pastbasked
Noun
pluralbasks

Past tense of bask: basked

Origin of bask

Inherited from Middle English basken, from Old Norse baðask (“to take a bath”, literally “to bathe oneself”), mediopassive form from underlying baða (“to bathe”) + sik (“oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *baþōną and *sek. Doublet of English bathe.

Words formed from bask

Words that rhyme with bask

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about bask

What does bask mean?
Bask means to bathe in warmth; to be exposed to pleasant heat.
What is bask in Tamil?
Bask in Tamil is குளிர் காய்தல், இளைப்பாறுதல். See Bask meaning in Tamil.
How do you use bask in a sentence?
The naked Negro, panting at the line, / Baſks in the glare, or ſtems the tepid wave, / And thanks his Gods for all the good they gave.
What part of speech is bask?
Bask can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce bask?
Bask is pronounced /bɑːsk/ (UK).
What is the past tense of bask?
The past tense of bask is basked.

Words near bask in the dictionary

  1. basitrich
  2. basitriches
  3. basitrichous
  4. basiventral
  5. basivertebral
  6. bask
  7. bask in the sunshine
  8. Baska
  9. Baskcomb
  10. Baskcombs
  11. basked

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bask (page history and authors); bask (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bask (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bask (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bask (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bask (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਸੇਕਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); পুঁওৱা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

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

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