| 释义 |
▪ I. basket, n.|ˈbɑːskɪt, -æ-|
Forms: 3– basket; also 4–5 baskett(e, 5 -att, -yt, 6 baszkett(e, basquette, 7 basquet.
[Origin not ascertained: not in Teutonic or Romanic; found in Eng. since 13th c.
Basket has been conjecturally identified with L. bascauda, used by Juvenal and Martial; by the latter (xiv. 99) given as British, ‘Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis, Sed me jam mavult dicere Roma suam.’ But the senses anciently assigned to bascauda of washing tub or tray ‘vasa ubi calices lavabantur, cacabus,’ or brazen vessel ‘conchæ æreæ, genera vasorum’ Papias (see Du Cange), do not favour this identification. The word is unknown in Old Irish or Welsh (basgawd is a figment invented to suggest bascauda), and the mod. Celtic words, Welsh basged, Corn. basced, Ir. basceid, Gael. bascaid, cannot phonetically be descended from an original bascauda, but seem to be simply adopted from Eng. (Prof. Rhys). At present, therefore, there is no evidence to connect basket with bascauda, or to refer it to a Celtic origin.]
A.
1. a. A vessel of wickerwork, made of plaited osiers, cane, rushes, bast, or other materials.
a1300W. de Biblesworth in Wright Voc. 158 Un corbel, a litel basket. c1386Chaucer Pard. Prol. 117, I wil do no labour with myn hondes, Ne make basketis and lyve therby. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. xvii. (1495) 357 A gardyner gaderynge grapes in a baskette. 1535Coverdale 2 Kings x. 7 They..slewe them..and layed their heades in baszkettes. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. iii. 137 Looke, heere is a basket..he may creepe in heere. 1656Cowley Davideis ii. (1669) 61 With gilded basquets in their hands. 1725Pope Odyss. ix. 293 High in wicker-baskets heaped. 1863Stanley Jew. Ch. v. 104 His mother placed him in a small boat or basket of papyrus.
b. with n. defining the purpose, as alms-basket, bread-basket, clothes-basket, eel-basket, work-basket.
1851Kingsley Yeast iii. 43 A high weir, with all its appendages of bucks and hatchways, and eel-baskets. 1863M. L. Whately Ragged Life Egypt vii. 50 A work-basket was stocked. 1868H. Lee B. Godfrey i. 2 Everywhere..hung..clothes-baskets, work-baskets, toy-baskets, market-baskets.
c. taken as the type of daily provisions; also, of alms formerly in special reference to the alms-basket on which poor prisoners in the public gaols were mainly dependent for their sustenance; hence to go to the basket: i.e. to prison.
1535Coverdale Deut. xxviii. 5 Blessed shal be thy baszkett, & thy stoare. 1632Mass. & Field Fatal Dowry v. i, Pontalier [to Liladam, who is in custody for debt], Go to the basket, and repent. 1679Trials of White, etc. 75 He was in the Marshalsey, and lived a poor mean life, and all the time fed upon the Basket. c1700Gentl. Instruc. (1732) 6 (D.) God be praised! I am not brought to the basket though I had rather live on charity than rapine. 1705Hickeringill Priest-Cr. ii. ii. 16 Living, as Prisoners in Ludgate, of the Basket. 1866Neale Seq. & Hymns 80 Helpless, hopeless, if Thou spare not, Of their basket and their store.
d. phrases. to pin the basket: to conclude the matter (obs.). to be left in the basket: to remain unchosen, or to the last (like the worst apples, etc.). the pick of the basket: i.e. of the lot or number.
a1659Osborn Observ. Turks Pref. (1673) 4 Steer contrary to the current of Antiquity, imagined only by idle Dunces, to have pinned the Basket. a1704T. Brown Sat. Fr. King Wks. 1730 I. 61 Thus far in jest; but now to pin the basket, May'st thou to England come. 1756W. Young Lat. Dict. s.v. Pin, To pin the basket..concludo, conficio, finio. 1847Barham Ingol. Leg., House-warm. (D.) And all other suitors are ‘left in the basket.’ 1874Bell's Life 26 Dec., The pick of the basket, a compact young greyhound.
e. In Basketball, the structure which forms the goal, consisting of a metal hoop from which is suspended a circular net, open at the bottom (but orig. a fruit basket: see quot. 1892); hence, a goal scored by shooting the ball through the net.
1892J. Naismith in Triangle 15 Jan. 145 The baskets [are] hung up, one at each end... The goals are a couple of baskets..about fifteen inches in diameter. 1893, etc. [see hoop n.1 8 c]. 1907T. H. Smith Basket Ball Guide 31 He..always succeeded in outscoring his opponent at least to the extent of two baskets to one. 1922Mather & Mitchell Basket Ball 48 A team that carries the ball up the floor and then misses an easy basket has needlessly given the opponents a chance to control the ball. 1948Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Okla.) 21 Mar. 15/2 They broke through the Lions' loosening defenses for five straight baskets. 1969Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard. 3 Dec. d1 (heading) Oregon's Bill Drozdiak drives for Wichita State basket. 1975New Yorker 7 Apr. 92/3 It was impossible for his man to stay with him as he came tearing towards the basket. 1985Cincinnati Enquirer 18 Oct. d8/1 He takes refuge from the chaos of his home by shooting baskets in a neighbor's driveway.
f. fig. A group, category; a range. spec. in Econ., an agreed range of currencies, goods, etc., whose combined values can be used as a basis for calculating an average or comparative value; esp. in phr. basket of currencies.
1916H. Walpole Dark Forest ii. i. 211 Semyonov at this time flung Nikitin, Andrew Vasslievitch, Trenchard and myself into one basket. We were all ‘crazy romantics’. 1959Times 9 Mar. (Suppl. Britain's Food) p. i/4 The types of goods on sale are continually changing: so also is the way in which housewives choose to spend their money on this changing basket of available commodities. 1962Economist 26 May 799/1 Might various categories of exports be grouped in comparable ‘baskets’. 1973Times 31 July 17/7 An agreed ‘basket’ of goods which will enable the purchasing powers of the various currencies..to be..compared. 1974Times 19 Jan. 17/3 The Group of 20 agreed that for an interim period, the base of valuation for special drawing rights should be a ‘basket’ of currencies. 1974Bank of England Q. Bull. Sept. 282 The value of the SDR was based upon the value of a group of major currencies in specified proportions. This came to be referred to as the ‘standard basket’. 1977J. Paxton Dict. European Econ. Community 269 The E.U.A. is a composite basket of fixed amounts of currencies of the nine member states... To establish the value of the composite basket in any given currency..the going market exchange rates are used. 1978Times 6 Oct. 25/8 The Belgian compromise..incorporates a weighted basket of currencies which could be used to determine if any of the currencies in the system are deviating from the norm. 1985Observer 27 Jan. 19/4 One possible solution..is to change OPEC's reference point from the marker crude to a weighted average price reflecting a basket of different qualities.
2. a. The quantity which fills a basket, a basketful; used as a measure of uncertain amount.
1631in Rec. Mass. Bay (1853) I. 92 Plastowe shall (for stealing 4 basketts of corne from the Indians) returne them 8 basketts againe. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict., Basket..of Medlars, two Bushels; Assa-fœtida, 20 to 50 lib. Weight. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvi, A basket of the first cherries..was accepted.. by the king. 1867F. Francis Angling xii. (1880) 456, I killed baskets of white trout. 1908Westm. Gaz. 26 Sept. 8/2 Scotland trout-fishing remains open..and some nice baskets are being made. 1965A. MacLeod Blessed above Women vii. 80 ‘The fishing's pretty good here, I believe?’..‘I've certainly been lucky in getting good baskets.’
b. Phr. a basket of chips, used allusively in comparisons. Chiefly U.S.
1788Grose Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 2), Basket..He grins like a basket of chips; a saying of one who is on the broad grin. 1819Moore Tom Crib's Mem. Congress 25 On which the whole Populace flash'd the white grin Like a basket of chips. 1827Massachusetts Spy 28 Nov. (Th.), The Yankee will say of a young lady, ‘She is a real pretty girl, but she is as homely as a basket of chips.’ 1892Congress. Rec. Mar. 2367/1 My ticket was handed to me at once and the seller looked as pleasant as a basket of chips. 1938Amer. Speech XIII. 74/1 As illustrations of the type of expression familiar to me in Ohio, I may list..‘polite as a basket of chips’.
3. A wickerwork protection for the hand on a sword-stick, in the form of a small basket; ellipt. a basket-hilt sword or stick.
1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iv. Tony, I'll fight you both, one after the other—with baskets. 1833Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 171 This exercise should..be tried with..sticks with baskets.
†4. A head-dress of wickerwork, or of basket shape. Obs.
1555Fardle Facions ii. x. 219 Their maried Women weare on their heades, fine wickre Basquettes of a foote and a haulf long. 1606Choice Chance, etc. (1881) 33 This youth in a basket, with a face of Brasse.
5. a. The overhanging back compartment on the outside of a stage-coach. arch.
1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. v. (1780) 249 It has shook me worse than the basket of a stage-coach. 1827Macaulay Clergym. Trip Camb. in Misc. (1865) 374 There were parsons in hood and in basket; There were parsons below and above. 1840Marryat Poor Jack xi, Long stages, with a basket to hold six behind.
b. A colloq. name for a part of the auditorium of a theatre. (See quots.) Obs.
1812Dramatic Censor 1811 99 There shall not be the nuisance called a basket, which is the constant rendezvous of tumult and profligacy. 1812G. Wyatt Design for Theatre ii. 13 The deep recess of Boxes, commonly called ‘the Basket’ (which has generally been permitted to extend to a great depth at the back of the circle), as well as the public Saloon..have been entirely excluded. Ibid. 14 This..does not include the deep chasm of ‘the basket’, which reached still farther backwards, to an extent of nearly 15 feet. 1815L. Simond Jrnl. Tour Gt. Brit. I. 104 The pit of Covent-Garden is nearly square..certain back boxes, called the basket, may hold one hundred and eighty people at 7s. 1831Examiner 390/1 A sort of black hole (we believe called the basket at the back of the front boxes, in which all the raff of the house have place).
6. Mil. A gabion.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., At sieges, they make use of a small basket filled with earth, and ranged on the top of the parapet.
7. A part of the hinder leg of the bee, adapted to carry pollen.
1861Hulme Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. 208 The leg [of the Bee] is dilated, and forms a triangular cavity on its inner surface, which is known as the ‘basket.’
8. The vase of a Corinthian capital, with its foliage, etc. Gwilt.
1753in Chambers Cycl. Supp.
9. A wickerwork or wire screen used in hat-making.
10. Aeronaut. A structure suspended from the envelope of a balloon to carry passengers, ballast, etc.
1783Franklin Let. 8 Oct. (1907) IX. 106 The Basket [of the Montgolfier balloon] contain'd a Sheep, a Duck & a Cock. 1784London Chron. LVI. 219/2 The balloon being filled..he seated himself in the basket. 1909Flight 29 May 310/2 Thanks to Mr. Brewer's insisting on the envelope being immediately over the basket in the course of its swayings during the trying of the lift of the balloon, we were able to carry easily two more bags of ballast. 1910R. Ferris How it Flies i. 16 In its usual form [the balloon] is spherical, with a car or basket suspended below it.
11. Euphem. alteration of bastard (esp. in sense A. 1 c). slang.
1936N. Coward Still Life iii. 73 Come on, Johnnie—don't argue with the poor little basket. 1958‘J. Gillespie’ Disobedience i. 10 He's a nice old basket really.
B. Comb. and attrib.
1. General relations:
a. objective with vbl. or agent-noun or pr. pple., as basket-bearer, basket-bearing, basket-carrier, basket-maker, basket-making, basket-seller;
b. attrib. of material (= formed as a basket, or of basket-work), as basket-balcony, basket-bonnet, basket-box, basket-car, basket-carriage, basket-fire, basket-grate, basket-net, basket-trap, basket-ware; basket-bodied a., having a wicker body;
c. attrib. of purpose (= used for baskets or basket-making), as basket-osier, basket-twine;
d. attrib. of origin (= carried in a basket), as basket-alms, basket-dole.
1660Earl Roscom. Poems (1780) 53 With *basket-alms scarce kept alive.
1866Howells Venet. Life xv. 223 The hideous *basket-balcony over the main door.
1530Palsgr. 196/2 *Basketbearer, hochqueteur.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. i, The mysterious *Basket-bearing stranger.
1903Daily Chron. 19 Oct. 3/2 The wax-headed *basket-bodied lady in a draper's window. 1908Ibid. 25 Aug. 7/3 The slender-wheeled basket-bodied chairs.
1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 51 The pockets are almost full, and so is the *basket-bonnet.
1881C. M. Yonge Lads & Lasses Langley iii. 133 A porter..with a large foreign *basket-box on his shoulders.
1922Joyce Ulysses 699 Roadster cycle with side *basketcar attached. 1962Times 26 Oct. Suppl. p. xiv/4 The basket-car weigh⁓bridge.
1870M. Bridgman R. Lynne II. viii. 161 The little *basket carriage.
1849Grote Greece ii. xxx. VI. 150 One of the Kanêphoræ or *basket-carriers.
1618B. Holyday Juvenal 4 A *basket-doal at the outmost door to wait.
1932G. Bottomley Bower of Wandel in Lyric Plays 64 (stage direction) An arras-hung interior is seen, lit by a *basket-fire.
1889Cent. Dict. I. 468/2 *Basket grate. 1942Cary To be Pilgrim xxiv. 51 Lucy's room..still has the iron basket grate.
1603Patient Grissil 6 I'll hamper somebody if I die because I am a *basket-maker.
1721Amherst Terræ Fil. x. 47 To teach the art and mystery of *basket-making.
1652Sterry Eng. Deliv. North. Presb. 12 *Basket-nets laid in those Wyers, to catch Lampries.
c1500Cocke Lorelles B. 5 Jacke *basket seler.
1866Livingstone Jrnl. v. (1873) I. 123 Hunting with a dog and *basket-trap.
1833Tennyson Poems 82 Piles of flavorous fruits, in *basket-twine Of gold, up-heapèd.
1858W. Ellis Vis. Madagascar iii. 61 *Basket-ware, cooper's work.
2. Special combinations: basket-beagle, a small dog used to hunt a basket-hare; basket-boat, a boat of basket-work; in India, a circular basket of 10 or 12 ft. diameter, covered with skins; basket-button, a metal button with a basket-pattern on it, instead of crest or arms; basket case slang (orig. U.S.), (a) a person (esp. a soldier) who has lost all four limbs; (b) transf., one who is emotionally or mentally unable to cope; something that is no longer functional, esp. a country that is unable to pay its debts or to feed its people; basket cell, a nerve cell having a basket-like network of fibrils; basket chair, one made of wickerwork, a wicker chair; basket clause N. Amer., a clause of a general or comprehensive nature; basket-clerk (see quot.); basket coil, winding Electr. (see quots.); basket-darning, darning in which the threads cross each other above and below, like simple wickerwork; basket dinner, lunch, picnic U.S., one for which the provisions are brought in a basket; basket fern dial. = male fern (male a. 2 b); basket-fish, a star-fish of the genus Astrophyton, with five rays divided into a number of curled filaments; basket-hare, one turned out of a basket to be coursed (cf. bag-fox); basket-justice (see quot.); Basket Maker Archæol., a member of an ancient culture in south-western U.S. preceding the Pueblo culture and characterized by basket-work; also applied attrib. to this culture or period; basket mat (see mat n.1); basket meal, a meal served (as in a public house) in a small basket rather than on a plate; basket-meeting U.S. (see quots.); basket-osier, the Salix Forbyana; basket-plant, an orchid of the genus Stanhopea, often grown in baskets through which the flowers protrude; basket-salt, that made from salt-springs, of finer quality than ordinary salt, so called from the vessels in which the brine is evaporated; basket-scrambler, one who scrambles for the dole from a basket, i.e. who lives on charity; basket-shell, a bivalve mollusc, esp. of the genus Corbula, having valves of unequal size; basket-stick, a fencing-stick with a wickerwork protection for the hand; basket-stitch (cf. basket-darning); basket-stones, fossil fragments of the stems of Crinoidea; basket sugar (see quot.); basket weave, a style of weave in which the pattern resembles basket-work (Webster, 1911); a fabric woven in this pattern; basket-woman, one who carries goods for sale in a basket; basket-work, structure composed of interlaced osiers, twigs, etc., or so carved as to resemble it.
1824Scott St. Ronan's i. 19 (D.) Grey-headed sportsmen, who had sunk from fox-hounds to *basket-beagles and coursing.
1801Wellington in Gurwood Disp. I. 357 Communication..kept up by means of the common *Basket boats. 1858Beveridge Hist. India II. v. viii. 522 Crossing in basket-boats at Trichinopoly.
1836Dickens Sk. Boz (1877) 173 In a blue coat and bright *basket buttons.
1919U.S. Official Bull. (U.S. Comm. on Public Information) 28 Mar. 1/1 The Surgeon General of the Army..denies..that there is any foundation for the stories that have been circulated..of the existence of ‘*basket cases’ in our hospitals. 1944Yank 12 May 17 Maj. Gen. Norman T. Kirk, Surgeon General, says there is nothing to rumors of so-called ‘basket cases’— cases of men with both legs and both arms amputated. 1967Saturday Rev. (U.S.) 25 Mar. 30/3 Kwame Nkrumah should not be written off as a political basket case. 1972Observer 24 Sept. 36/6 The ‘hero’, a legless, armless, faceless 1914–18 basket-case. 1973Ibid. 15 Apr. 6/2 The real basket cases of European agriculture are the Italians and the Bavarians. 1978S. Brill Teamsters vi. 227 He was a basket case because of Spilotro. A totally broken man, crying and whimpering. 1978M. Puzo Fools Die xxiv. 275 ‘Hunchbacks are not as good as anybody else?’ I asked... ‘No..nor are people with one eye, basket cases and..chickenshit guys.’ 1982Newsweek 11 Jan. 21/2 On a continent that is full of economic basket cases, the small, landlocked nation is virtually debt free.
1901Gray's Anat. (ed. 15) viii. 671 [Cells] of the inner layer run for some distance horizontally..giving off at intervals collaterals, which pass..towards the cell-bodies of Purkinje's corpuscles, around which they become enlarged, and ramify like a basket. Hence these cells of the inner layer are named *basket-cells. 1910Encycl. Brit. IV. 395/1 The..basket-cells..have a rounded body giving off many branching dendrons.
a1631Donne Elegies in Poems (1912) I. 79 When he swolne, and pamper'd with great fare, Sits downe, and snorts, cag'd in his *basket chaire. a1782E. Parkman Diary 298, 1 great chair 3/- Six lath basket chairs 24/-. 1896Mrs. Caffyn Quaker Grandmother 20 He sank into a well-cushioned basket-chair.
1883Congress. Rec. Feb. 2580/1 This *basket-clause seems to be a sort of Prophetic fine-comb with us. 1897Ibid. Mar. 367/2 If we strike..[an item] from the dutiable list, we transfer it to the ‘basket clause’ at 25 per cent. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Feb. B 4/6 The basket clause permits trust companies to invest up to 15 per cent of capital.
1653Milton Hirelings Wks (1851) 376 The Clergy had thir Portions given them in Baskets, and were thence call'd sportularii, *basket-clerks.
1923Daily Mail 28 Apr. 5 Those compact multilayer coils called ‘*basket’, ‘pancake’, or ‘honeycomb’ coils. 1960H. Carter Dict. Electronics 25 Basket coil, an inductor consisting of a self-supporting spiral winding, adjacent turns being disposed in criss-cross fashion to minimize self-capacitance.
1884Harper's Mag. Aug. 346/2 Ordinary *basket darning.
1892Illinois Kentuckian (Lexington) Dec. 88/3 (D.A.), This is a noted place for picnics where pies and cake and *basket dinners prevail.
1883W. H. Cope Gloss. Hampsh. Words & Phr. 5 *Basket Fern. 1945E. Step Wayside & Woodl. Ferns (ed. 2) 76 There are several other names [for the male fern] in use locally, such as Basket-fern in Cornwall and Hampshire.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Basket-fish..a name given by the English in North America to a very remarkable fish, sometimes caught in the seas thereabout.
a1698Howard Committee iv. (D.) As if we had brought a *basket-hare to be set down and hunted.
1860Wynter Curios. Civiliz. 493 The *basket justices were so called because they allowed themselves to be bought over by presents of game.
1905Springfield Weekly Republ. 11 Aug. 14 At noon a bountiful *basket lunch was served under the trees in the park.
1897Harper's Mag. June 61/1 Over the head a small flat basket, and a great finely woven basket over all—such was their burial fashion... The Wetherills [i.e. R. Wetherill and brothers] soon recognized the ethnological importance of their discovery, and have provisionally named the people who buried in these older graves the ‘*Basket-Makers’. 1904A. J. Burdick Mystic Mid-Region, Deserts of Southwest 92 The basket-makers of that time had all the skill that is known to their descendants to-day. 1938Southwestern Lore June 5 (D.A.), We now place the beginning of the Basket Maker II period as about the opening of the Christian Era and its end about 400 a.d., with the Basket Maker III period lasting up to 700 a.d. 1948A. L. Kroeber Anthropology (ed. 2) xviii. 806 The Basket Maker and Pueblo cultures are continuous in character as well as in time... The..sequence begins with Basket Maker II, stage I having been left for an as yet undiscovered culture which was inferred as earlier.
1976Leicester Mercury 16 July 1/1 (Advt.), *Basket meals available every evening. 1981R. Lewis Seek for Justice v. 148 The main floor itself was packed with small tables where men and women sat, beer glasses and basket meals in front of them.
1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), *Basket-meeting, in the West, a sort of pic-nic, generally with some religious ‘exercises’. 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 191 A corn-husking is announced..and the neighbors from far and near assemble, each bringing his provisions in a basket. From the latter feature these pic-nics derive their names of Basket-meetings. 1882in G. Foreman Last Trek of Indians (1946) 198 This year witnessed a good, old-fashioned *basket picnic. 1904Boston Herald 22 Aug. 6 A long political speech in the open air..at a basket picnic meeting in Ohio. 1865Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. V, The stanhopea sigrina (or *basket plant) is exceedingly rare and fragrant.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., *Basket salt..is..made from the water of our salt springs in Cheshire. 1769Ellis in Phil. Trans. LIX. 148 Grains of salt..about the size of the finest basket salt.
1647R. Stapylton Juvenal 40 With fine young fencers, *basquet-scramblers, thus It pleas'd vaine Otho to distinguish us.
1713J. Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ 1/2 Cassis rubra..Red *Basket-shell. 1945E. Step Shell Life ix. 150 The Basket-shells (Corbula), though a large genus, are represented in this country by a single species, the Common Basket-shell (C. gibba). Ibid. 151 There are..other Basket-shells beside those of the genus Corbula..the Pointed Basket-shell (Neæra cuspidata). Ibid. 152 The Short Basket-shell (N. abbreviata)... The Fine-ribbed Basket-shell (N. costellata).
1833Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 66 The files being prepared with masks and *basket-sticks.
1883Daily News 12 July 3/5 Embroidered in raised gold, worked in *basket stitch on white satin.
1851Richardson Geol. ii. 24 Variously termed..cheesestones, *basketstones, caskstones.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 45/1 In certain districts, notably in the Straits Settlements..it [sc. syrup] is slowly boiled up in open double-bottom pans... The sugar thus produced..forms a species of small-grained concrete. It is called ‘*Basket Sugar’... In the Straits Settlements the ‘Basket Sugar’ factories are of considerable importance.
1925New Yorker 4 Apr. 22/2 His attached silk collar, which he wore plain with *basket-weave tie. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 80/1 Basket weave, woollen fabrics of hopsack or mat-weave, with a basket effect. 1960Times 21 Jan. 14/4 Fabrics were interesting in texture, including basket-weave woollens.
1694Luttrell Brief Rel. III. 403 Having gott armes, brought them the day before by *basket women. 1837Marryat Dog-Fiend ix, The basket-women flitted about displaying their stores.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Dame-jeanne, a..large bottle..covered with *basket-work. 1867M. E. Herbert Cradle L. iv. 123 Its venerable pillars and beautiful basket-work capitals.
1910H. M. Hobart Dict. Electrical Engin., Winding, *Basket, more often known as the chain type of winding.., in which the coils belonging to the three separate phases are laid out in two ranges, the centre of one coil or set of coils being occupied by the side or sides of the adjacent coil or coils on opposite sides.
▸ U.S. slang. Originally and chiefly among homosexual men: a man's genitals, esp. when conspicuous in tight clothing. Cf. lunchbox n. 3, package n. 9.
1941G. Legman Lang. Homosexuality in G. W. Henry Sex Variants II. App. vii. 1157 Basket, the scrotum, or, rather, the size of the testicles and scrotum as seen or felt through the trousers... Also..the penis and testicles together, or their size. 1958W. Motley Let no Man write my Epit. lvii. 273 A young fellow in a very tight-fitting pair of faded blue jeans walks in. Eyes follow him. ‘Oh my God! What a basket!’ a young man shrills in feminine-like voice. 1973Amer. Speech 1970 45 56 Basket, male genitalia (informants suggest the term is a shortened form of lunch basket, with reference to the appearance of the genitals in an athletic supporter). 1988E. White Beautiful Room is Empty iv. 68, I can't tell if you pack a big basket or not. 2001J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand liii. 268 Wayne walked in distracted. Dom checked his basket. Dom eyeball-stroked his bulge.
▪ II. basket, v.|ˈbɑːskɪt, -æ-|
[f. prec. n.; cf. to bag.]
1. To put into a basket; also fig.
1583Stanyhurst æneid i. (Arb.) 27 Maunchets sum in pantrie doe basket. 1650Fuller Pisgah iii. vi. 370 Christ commanded the fragments..to be basketed up. 1785Cowper Task ii. 667 Basket up the family of plagues. 1867F. Francis Angling viii. (1880) 297 A grayling..is scarcely so easy to basket.
2. To hang up in a basket; also fig.
1778Kippis Biog. Brit. I. 240 note, He..would suffer himself to be banged and basketted for refusing a challenge. 1822T. Mitchell Aristoph. II. 37, I see you're basketed so high, That you look down upon the gods.
3. To throw into the waste-paper basket; also fig. to reject as unsuitable.
1867Daily Tel. Mar., The meeting of Opposition members had a good deal to do with its being ‘basketed.’ 1883Proctor in Knowledge 6 July 13/2 Your handwriting will cause our..sub-editor to ‘basket’ your communications rather summarily. |