Adjacent Words

Basket definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

B'ASKET, n.
1. A domestic vessel made of twigs, rushes,splinters or other flexible things interwoven. The forms and sizes of baskets are very various, as well as the uses to which they are applied; as corn-baskets, clothes-baskets, fruit-baskets, and work-baskets.
2. The contents of a basket; as much as a basket will contain; as, a basket of medlars is two bushels. But in general, this quantity is indefinite.
In military affairs, baskets of earth sometimes are used on the parapet of a trench, between which the soldiers fire. They serve for defense against small shot.
B'ASKET, v.t. To put in a basket.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a container that is usually woven and has handles [syn: basket, handbasket]
2: the quantity contained in a basket [syn: basket, basketful]
3: horizontal circular metal hoop supporting a net through which players try to throw the basketball [syn: basket, basketball hoop, hoop]
4: a score in basketball made by throwing the ball through the hoop [syn: basket, field goal]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French; akin to Old French baschoue wooden vessel; both from Latin bascauda kind of basin, of Celtic origin; akin to Middle Irish basc necklace — more at fascia Date: 14th century 1. a. a receptacle made of interwoven material (as osiers) b. any of various lightweight usually wood containers c. the quantity contained in a basket 2. something that resembles a basket especially in shape or use 3. a. a net open at the bottom and suspended from a metal ring that constitutes the goal in basketball b. a field goal in basketball 4. a. an aggregate of values (as of selected currencies) the average of which serves as a monetary standard b. a selection of financial instruments (as equities, futures, or options) the values of which reflect market fluctuations 5. a ring around the lower end of a ski pole that keeps the pole from sinking too deep in snow • basketlike adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a container made of interwoven cane etc. 2 a container resembling this. 3 the amount held by a basket. 4 the goal in basketball, or a goal scored. 5 Econ. a group or range (of currencies). 6 euphem. colloq. bastard. Phrases and idioms: basket weave a weave resembling that of a basket. Derivatives: basketful n. (pl. -fuls). Etymology: AF & OF basket, AL baskettum, of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Basket Bas"ket, v. t. To put into a basket. [R.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Basket Bas"ket, n. [Of unknown origin. The modern Celtic words seem to be from the English.] 1. A vessel made of osiers or other twigs, cane, rushes, splints, or other flexible material, interwoven. ``Rude baskets . . . woven of the flexile willow.'' --Dyer. 2. The contents of a basket; as much as a basket contains; as, a basket of peaches. 3. (Arch.) The bell or vase of the Corinthian capital. [Improperly so used.] --Gwilt. 4. The two back seats facing one another on the outside of a stagecoach. [Eng.] --Goldsmith. Basket fish (Zo["o]l.), an ophiuran of the genus Astrophyton, having the arms much branched. See Astrophyton. Basket hilt, a hilt with a covering wrought like basketwork to protect the hand. --Hudibras. Hence, Baskethilted, a. Basket work, work consisting of plaited osiers or twigs. Basket worm (Zo["o]l.), a lepidopterous insect of the genus Thyridopteryx and allied genera, esp. T. ephemer[ae]formis. The larva makes and carries about a bag or basket-like case of silk and twigs, which it afterwards hangs up to shelter the pupa and wingless adult females.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(baskets) 1. A basket is a stiff container that is used for carrying or storing objects. Baskets are made from thin strips of materials such as straw, plastic, or wire woven together. ...big wicker picnic baskets filled with sandwiches. ...a laundry basket. N-COUNT • A basket of things is a number of things contained in a basket. ...a small basket of fruit and snacks. N-COUNT: N of n 2. In economics, a basket of currencies or goods is the average or total value of a number of different currencies or goods. (BUSINESS) The pound's value against a basket of currencies hit a new low of 76.9. N-COUNT: usu sing, N of n 3. In basketball, the basket is a net hanging from a ring through which players try to throw the ball in order to score points. N-COUNT 4. to put all your eggs in one basket: see egg see also bread basket, hanging basket, wastepaper basket

Easton's Bible Dictionary

There are five different Hebrew words so rendered in the Authorized Version: (1.) A basket (Heb. sal, a twig or osier) for holding bread (Gen. 40:16; Ex. 29:3, 23; Lev. 8:2, 26, 31; Num. 6:15, 17, 19). Sometimes baskets were made of twigs peeled; their manufacture was a recognized trade among the Hebrews.

(2.) That used (Heb. salsilloth') in gathering grapes (Jer. 6:9).

(3.) That in which the first fruits of the harvest were presented, Heb. tene, (Deut. 26:2, 4). It was also used for household purposes. In form it tapered downwards like that called _corbis_ by the Romans.

(4.) A basket (Heb. kelub) having a lid, resembling a bird-cage. It was made of leaves or rushes. The name is also applied to fruit-baskets (Amos 8:1, 2).

(5.) A basket (Heb. dud) for carrying figs (Jer. 24:2), also clay to the brick-yard (R.V., Ps. 81:6), and bulky articles (2 Kings 10:7). This word is also rendered in the Authorized Version "kettle" (1 Sam. 2:14), "caldron" (2 Chr. 35:13), "seething-pot" (Job 41:20).

In the New Testament mention is made of the basket (Gr. kophinos, small "wicker-basket") for the "fragments" in the miracle recorded Mark 6:43, and in that recorded Matt. 15:37 (Gr. spuris, large "rope-basket"); also of the basket in which Paul escaped (Acts 9:25, Gr. spuris; 2 Cor. 11: 33, Gr. sargane, "basket of plaited cords").

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

bas'-ket: Four kinds of "baskets" come to view in the Old Testament under the Hebrew names, dudh, Tene', cal and kelubh. There is little, however, in these names, or in the narratives where they are found, to indicate definitely what the differences of size and shape and use were. The Mishna renders us some help in our uncertainty, giving numerous names and descriptions of "baskets" in use among the ancient Hebrews (see Kreugel, Dasse Hausgerat in der Mishna, 39-45). They were variously m ade of willow, rush, palm-leaf, etc., and were used for various purposes, domestic and agricultural, for instance, in gathering and serving fruit, collecting alms in kind for the poor, etc. Some had handles, others lids, some both, others neither.

1. Meaning of Old Testament Terms:

(1) Dudh was probably a generic term for various kinds of baskets. It was probably the "basket" in which the Israelites in Egypt carried the clay for bricks (compare Ps 81:6, where it is used as a symbol of Egyptian bondage), and such as the Egyptians themselves used for that purpose (Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, I, 379), probably a large, shallow basket, made of wicker-work. It stood for a basket that was used in fruit-gathering (see Jer 24:1), but how it differed from Amos' "basket of summer fruit" (Am 8:1) we do not know. Dudh is used for the "pot" in which meat was boiled (1Sa 2:14), showing probably that a pot-shaped "basket" was known by this name. Then it seems to have stood for a basket tapering toward the bottom like the calathus of the Romans. So we seem forced to conclude that the term was generic, not specific.

(2) The commonest basket in use in Old Testament times was the cal. It was the "basket" in which the court-baker of Egypt carried about his confectionery on his head (Ge 40:16). It was made in later times at least of peeled willows, or palm leaves, and was sometimes at least large and flat like the canistrum of the Romans, and, like it, was used for carrying bread and other articles of food (Ge 40:16; Jud 6:19). Meat for the meat offerings and the unleavened bread, were placed in it (Ex 29:3; Le 8:2; Nu 6:15). It is expressly required that the unleavened cakes be placed and offered in such a "basket." While a "basket," it was dish-shaped, larger or smaller in size, it would seem, according to demand, and perhaps of finer texture than the dudh.

(3) The Tene' was a large, deep basket, in which grain and other products of garden or field were carried home, and kept (De 28:5,17), in which the first-fruits were preserved (De 26:2), and the tithes transported to the sanctuary (De 26:2 f). It has been thought probable that the chabya, the basket of clay and straw of the Palestine peasantry of today, is a sort of survival or counterpart of it. It has the general shape of a jar, and is used for storing and keeping wheat, barley, oats, etc. At the top is the mouth into which the grain is poured, and at the bottom is an orifice through which it can be taken out as needed, when the opening is again closed with a rag. The Septuagint translates Tene' by kartallos, which denotes a basket of the shape of an inverted cone.

(4) The term kelubh, found in Am 8:1 for a "fruit-basket," is used in Jer 5:27 (the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) "cage") for a bird-cage. But it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that a coarsely woven basket with a cover would be used by a fowler to carry home his feathered captives.

2. Meaning of New Testament Terms:

In the New Testament interest centers in two kinds of "basket," distinguished by the evangelists in their accounts of the feeding of the 5,000 and of the 4,000, called in Greek kophinos and spuris (Westcott-Hort sphuris).

(1) The kophinos (Mt 14:20; Mr 6:43; Lu 9:17; Joh 6:13) may be confidently identified with the kuphta' of the Mishna which was provided with a cord for a handle by means of which it could be carried on the back with such provisions as the disciples on the occasions under consideration would naturally have with them (of Kreugel, and Broadus, Commentary in the place cited.). The Jews of Juvenal's day carried such a specific "provision-basket" with them on their journeys regularly, and the Latin for it is a transliteration of this Greek word, cophinus (compare Juvenal iii.14, and Jastrow, Dictionary, article "Basket"). Some idea of its size may be drawn from the fact that in CIG, 1625, 46, the word denotes a Beotian measure of about two gallons.

(2) The sphuris or spuris (Mt 15:37; Mr 8:8) we may be sure, from its being used in letting Paul down from the wall at Damascus (Ac 9:25, etc.), was considerably larger than the kophinos and quite different in shape and uses. It might for distinction fitly be rendered "hamper," as Professor Kennedy suggests. Certainly neither the Greek nor ancient usage justifies any confusion.

(3) The sargane (2Co 11:33) means anything plaited, or sometimes more specifically a fish-basket.

George B. Eager

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

An exclamation frequently made use of in cock-pits, at cock-fightings, where persons refusing or unable to pay their losings, are adjudged by that respectable assembly to be put into a basket suspended over the pit, there to remain during that day's diversion: on the least demur to pay a bet, Basket is vociferated in terrorem. He grins like a basket of chips: a saying of one who is on the broad grin.

Moby Thesaurus

bag, ballocks, balls, barrel, bassinet, beard, bottle, box, box up, breadbasket, breasts, bushel, can, capsule, carton, case, cask, cervix, clitoris, clothesbasket, cod, cods, crane, crate, creel, cullions, encase, encyst, family jewels, female organs, frail, fruit basket, genitalia, genitals, gonads, hamper, jar, labia, labia majora, labia minora, lingam, lips, male organs, meat, nuts, nymphae, ovary, pack, package, pannier, parcel, penis, phallus, picnic basket, pot, private parts, privates, privy parts, pubic hair, pudenda, punnet, reed basket, reproductive organs, rocks, rush basket, sack, scrotum, secondary sex characteristic, sewing basket, sex organs, spermary, tank, testes, testicles, tin, trug, uterus, vagina, vulva, wastebasket, wastepaper basket, wicker basket, wire basket, womb, wooden basket, yoni