bath

Noun (1)

bath (plural baths)

1. A tub or pool which is used for bathing: bathtub.
2. A building or area where bathing occurs.
   • Among the ancients, the public baths were of amazing extent and magnificence.1842, Joseph Gwilt, Encyclopaedia of Architecture
3. The act of bathing; an instance of this; the taking of a bath.
4. Specifically, bathing by immersing the body in water, rather than through other means, or an instance of this.
   • Do you prefer baths or showers?
5. An act of immersing the body in a specified substance, especially for hygiene, pleasure, or wellness, or a facility for this: e.g. mud bath, steam bath.
   • Radio-active baths are said to act favourably in a sexual direction. So too with arsenical springs, cold water treatment, and hydrotherapy.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 156
6. The body of liquid one bathes in.
7. (broadly) A substance or preparation in which something is immersed.
   • a bath of heated sand, ashes, steam, or hot air
   • He takes the prepared charcoal used by artists, brings it to a white heat, and suddenly plunges it in a bath of mercury, of which the globules instantly penetrate the pores of charcoal, and may be said to metallize it.1879, Th Du Moncel, The Telephone, the Microphone and the Phonograph, Harper, page 166

Verb

bath (third-person singular simple present baths, present participle bathing, simple past and past participle bathed)

1. (Commonwealth, transitive) To wash a person or animal in a bath.
   • Somewhere to bath the baby: don't invest in a plastic baby bath. The bathroom handbasin is usually a much more convenient place to bath the baby. If your partner is more able, this could be a task he might take on as his, bathing the baby in a basin or plastic bown on the floor.1990, Mukti Jain Campion, The Baby Challenge: A handbook on pregnancy for women with a physical disability., →ISBN, page 41
   • For grooming at home, obviously the choice is yours whether you wish to bath the dog in your own bath or sink, or if you want to buy one specifically for the purpose.2006, Sue Dallas, Diana North, Joanne Angus, Grooming Manual for the Dog and Cat, →ISBN, page 91
2. (Commonwealth, informal, intransitive) To bathe (oneself); to have a bath.
   • “Oh, dear no, not me; I never bath, ’tis the cat has been bathing, in a warm sea bath; I’ll tell you how I manage: I bought a large pickle-jar, and so I have it filled every morning with hot sea water, proportionate to the thermometerical heat my finger can bear, and that I stile Tink-a-tink’s...1815, anonymous author, The Observant Pedestrian Mounted, volume 3
   • A man's home may be handy to the mine, in which case he would not need to lose the bath, but if he lived any distance away he would bath at the mine.1912, James Ward, quotee, “Report on the Royal Commission on Mines”, in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand, Wellington, page 141

Noun (2)

bath (plural baths)

1. (historical) A former Hebrew unit of liquid volume (about 23 L or 6 gallons).
   • Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.1769, Bible (KJV), Ezekiel, 45:10–11

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Bath

Bath

1. A city in Bath and North East Somerset district, Somerset, England, famous for its baths fed by a hot spring.
2. A village in the Netherlands.
3. A village in New Brunswick, Canada.
4. A former settlement in Placer County, California.
5. An unincorporated community in Richmond County, Georgia.
6. A village and township in Mason County, Illinois.
7. A township and unincorporated community therein, in Franklin County, Indiana.
8. A township in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa.
9. An unincorporated community in Knott County, Kentucky.
10. A city, the county seat of Sagadahoc County, Maine; named for the city in England.
    • Portland also makes a good base from which to explore the rest of southern coastal Maine, from the shops of Kennebunkport to the sprawling L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport to the charming towns of Bath, Rockland and Camden further up Route 1.2024 June 24, Brandon Griggs, “This coastal culinary hub offers a ‘big-city feel in a small-city package’”, in CNN, archived from the original on 31 Aug 2024
11. A township and census-designated place therein, in Clinton County, Michigan.
12. A township in Freeborn County, Minnesota.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Bath

IPA/bæθ/

Bath

1. (uncommon) Uncommon form of Baath.