basaladj.n.
/ˈbeɪsəl/ A. adj.
1. Pertaining to, situated at, or forming the base. In Botany. Situated at the base of the ovary. basal plane and cleavage in Crystallography: one parallel to the lateral or horizontal axis.
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the world > space > relative position > low position > [adjective] > relating to or forming a base
bottom1561
fundamental1581
basal1828
basial1836
substructural1837
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [adjective] > having or relating to parts > relating to or having ovule > of or having an ovary
gymnotetraspermous1736
ovarian1759
germinal1811
monocephalous1845
tetrathecal1849
basal1870
paragerminal1876
1828 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. xxxii. 330 The elytra have a basal gibbosity.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xiv. 310 Geologizing the basal parts of the Andes.
1870 J. D. Hooker Student's Flora Brit. Islands 314 Amaranthaceæ ..ovules..basal.
2. figurative. Fundamental.
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the world > existence and causation > causation > basis or foundation > [adjective]
fundamental1588
primal1619
groundinga1641
radical1648
radicative1657
ultimate1659
substrated1663
substrate1678
foundational1683
principial1699
basic1846
basal1866
substratal1881
nuclear1912
gut1964
blue skies1985
1866 H. Bushnell Vicarious Sacrifice iii. v. 330 A much deeper and more nearly basal office.
1883 H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spiritual World 378 Classification should rest on the most basal characteristics.
1918 F. Wood-Jones Probl. Man's Ancestry 34 A being, whose body is replete with features of basal mammalian simplicity.
1963 Publishers' Weekly 2 Sept. 44/2 To what extent are available paperback books adequate as compared with basal readers and early reading textbooks.
B. n.
A basal part; spec. one of the basal plates encircling the stem of the crinoids.
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society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > formation of letters > [noun] > stroke > in brachygraphy
basal1620
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Echinodermata > [noun] > division Pelmatozoa > class Crinoidea > member of > parts of > plate encircling stem
basal1877
1620 W. Folkingham Brachigraphy sig. A 6v The third are Basals, falling from the Head of the Line, and landing below the Foot.
1877 T. H. Huxley Man. Anat. Invertebrated Animals ix. 589 The basals coalescing into the rosette are hidden by the first radials.
1881 Nature 4 Aug. 305 Those species of Pentacrinus in which the basals form a complete ring.
Compounds
basal anaesthesia n. administration of a light but long-acting anæsthetic which may be supplemented when necessary during an operation by a deeper short-acting anæsthetic; so basal anaesthetic.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > anaesthetization, pain-killing, etc. > [noun] > anaesthetization
astonishment1576
anaesthetization1860
infiltration anaesthesia1897
anoci-association1911
basal anaesthesia1934
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > anaesthetic > [noun] > basal anaesthetic
basal anaesthetic1934
1934 H. W. Featherstone in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 24 Feb. 322/2 The pioneer work in basal anaesthesia.
1934 H. W. Featherstone in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 24 Feb. 326/1 Basal anaesthetics are a boon to patients.
basal area n. (a) the area situated at or forming the base; spec. in Ecology (see quot. 1962); (b) Forestry the area of the cross-section of a tree at a height of 4·5 feet above the ground, or the sum of such areas.
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the world > space > relative position > low position > [noun] > condition of being placed under > that which lies under > base on which a thing rests > surface or area
floor1556
basal area1610
bedding1611
bed1633
plan1723
floor area1887
the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > lumbering > [noun] > tree-crop > measurements of standing timber
stumpage1854
scale1877
increment1889
taper1893
basal area1895
form factor1895
cruise1911
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > environment or habitat > [noun] > portion of
subregion1830
province1847
realm1854
substrate1876
quadrat1904
transect1905
biotope1909
basal cover1923
microhabitat1931
basal area1938
tetrad1963
1610 W. Folkingham Feudigraphia ii. viii. 62 Multiply the Basall Area by 6.
1895 W. Schlich Man. Forestry iii. i. 46 The sample tree should show a basal area which corresponds exactly to the mean section of the class.
1938 J. R. Carpenter Ecol. Gloss. 39 Basal area, (1)..The sum of the basal areas of trees in a forest stand is the basal area of the stand. (2)..Ground cover, basal cover.
1962 H. Hanson Dict. Ecol. 43 Basal Area..the surface of the soil actually covered or occupied by a plant, especially the basal part, as compared to the full spread of the herbage.
basal complex n. Geology = basement complex at basement n. Compounds 3.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > [noun] > fundamental complex
basement complex1887
fundamental complex1890
basal complex1897
1897 W. B. Scott Introd. Geol. iv. xxi. 358 The Archaean includes the most ancient rocks, often spoken of as the ‘basement, or basal complex’.
basal conglomerate n. Geology a conglomerate forming the lowest of a particular series of strata.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > composite rock > [noun] > conglomerate > specific
pinnel1766
grauwacke1794
unguilite1799
greywacke1805
yolky-stone1805
nagelfluh1808
coombe rock1822
pebble bed1849
breccia1856
ceppo1881
banket1886
ouklip1892
crush-conglomerate1893
basal conglomerate1900
calcrete1902
rudite1904
fanglomerate1912
beach-rock1919
1900 Geol. Mag. 7 564 On the western shore of Ullswater..a good section has recently been exposed of the basal conglomerates variously ascribed to the Old Red or lowermost Carboniferous age.
basal cover n. Ecology = basal area n. (a).
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the world > life > biology > balance of nature > environment or habitat > [noun] > portion of
subregion1830
province1847
realm1854
substrate1876
quadrat1904
transect1905
biotope1909
basal cover1923
microhabitat1931
basal area1938
tetrad1963
1923 J. T. Sarvis U.S. Dept. Agric. Bull. MCLXX. 20 Basal cover, as used here, means the extent of ground surface actually covered by plants after the foliage has been removed by grazing or clipping.
basal ganglion n. a ganglion situated at the base of the cerebrum ( Cent. Dict. 1889); esp. in plural.
basal ganglia n. the thalamus, lentiform, and caudate nuclei considered as a group.
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the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > nuclei
red nucleus1872
nucleus ruber1886
basal ganglia1913
1913 Cunningham's Text-bk. Anat. (ed. 4) 637 (heading) Basal Ganglia of the Cerebral Hemisphere.
1945 New Biol. 1 82 Deep seated primitive components of the brain which include..the basal ganglia.
basal granule n. a granule found at the base of a flagellum or cilium in certain protozoa.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > protozoa > [noun] > member of > parts of > granule at base of flagellum
blepharoplast1908
basal granule1920
1920 I. F. Henderson & W. D. Henderson Dict. Sci. Terms 28/2 Basal granule.
1951 New Biol. 11 114 Beneath the pellicle [of paramecium] the cilia connect with small round bodies known as basal granules or kinetosomes.
basal metabolism n. the metabolism of an organism in a fasting and resting state; so (see quots.).
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > metabolism > [noun] > types of
disassimilation1809
dissimilation1830
anabolism1886
catabolism1889
basal metabolism1914
hypometabolism1932
hypermetabolism1937
cryptobiosis1959
methylotrophy1972
1914 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. 19 239 (title) Basal metabolism and creatinin elimination.
1920 Lancet 7 Aug. 289/2 Basal metabolism—i.e., the metabolism of the individual during complete muscular repose, where a period of twelve hours had been allowed to elapse since taking the last meal.
1963 M. McCarthy Group xiii. 303 The result of her basal metabolism [test] seemed to have restored her natural optimism.
basal metabolic rate n.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > metabolism > [noun]
metabolism1878
basal metabolic rate1922
1922 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 78 1887/2 (title) Correlation of Basal Metabolic Rate with Pulse Rate and Pulse Pressure. Extreme deviations from the normal basal metabolic rate are accompanied by..alterations in other functions.
1951 M. Abercrombie et al. Dict. Biol. 138 In man, basal metabolic rate (B.M.R.) is expressed as the output of Calories per square metre of body surface per hour.
1952 New Biol. 13 64 The standard index of the latter [i.e. the metabolism of the body] being the ‘basal metabolic rate’ (B.M.R.), which is essentially the rate at which oxygen is consumed by the body when it is in a resting condition.
basal narcosis n. (see quots.); cf. basal anaesthesia n.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > anaesthetization, pain-killing, etc. > [noun] > sedation
sedation1543
basal narcosis1935
1935 Brit. Jrnl. Anaesthesia 13 15 This preliminary narcosis, or basal narcosis as it has been called.
1938 Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Year 39/1 ‘Basal narcosis’..means the giving, at various times before the anaesthetic itself, of a sedative or hypnotic drug, which will reinforce the action of the gas.
basal-nerved adj. ‘with nerves all springing from the base of the leaf’ (Gray Bot. Text-bk.).
basal rot n. Horticulture (see quot. 1954).
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the world > plants > disease or injury > [noun] > type of disease > fungal > associated with crop or food plants > various diseases
red rot1798
bunt1800
heart rot1808
yellow rust1808
pepperbrand1842
black spot1847
take-all1865
anthracnose1877
coffee-leaf disease1877
white rot1879
bladder-brand1883
basal rot1896
whitehead1898
black root rot1901
chancre1903
black pod1904
bud-rot1906
frog-eye1906
wildfire1918
pasmo1926
blind-seed disease1939
sharp eyespot1943
1896 Daily News 15 Apr. 715 Dr. Crawford [spoke] on basal rot.
1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Feb. 176/2 The lily is subject to certain diseases; the most common are leaf spot..and basal rot (fusarium).
1954 A. G. L. Hellyer Encycl. Garden Work 18/1 Basal rot, a name rather loosely applied to several quite distinct diseases which all attack bulbs, causing a decay of the base of the bulb... The decay is caused by fungal attack.
Draft additions December 2006
basal pinacoid n. Crystallography a plane or face that intersects the principal or c axis and is parallel to both a and b axes; a crystal form or solid figure containing two such planes or faces parallel to each other.
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1858 J. Nicol Elements Mineral. i. 20 In these prisms the principal axis is supposed to be prolonged indefinitely, or to be unbounded. Where it is very short and the lateral axes infinite, the basal pinacoid is formed, consisting merely of two parallel faces.
1885 Amer. Naturalist 19 798 Twins are not uncommon, the twinning plane being the basal pinacoid.
1959 C. S. Hurlbut Dana's Man. Min. (ed. 17) ii. 96 Unlike the basal pinacoid of the orthorhombic system, it [sc. that of the monoclinic system] is not perpendicular to the c axis.
1984 Micropaleontology 30 35/1 Wall of..aragonite (orthorhombic crystal form of calcium carbonate), the hexagonal prisms with c-axis normal to the wall surface, and basal pinacoid parallel to the surface.
Draft additions January 2018
basal body temperature n. the body's temperature at the lowest point in its natural circadian rhythm, typically measured in humans before rising in the morning; frequently attributive, designating a method of predicting the date of ovulation based on monitoring this, used as part of natural birth control (cf. symptothermal adj.).In women basal body temperature typically drops slightly and then rises sharply at the time of ovulation.
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1938 Amer. Jrnl. Obstetr. & Gynecol. 36 998 Basal body temperature is a guide to the period of fertility as identified in these studies to occur not more than three days before or one day after the midperiod of the menstrual cycle.
1953 Science 6 Mar. 256/1 Kendleigh has shown the basal body temperature of shrews..to approximate 34.7°C.
1984 Stud. Family Planning 15 303/1 This booklet was issued to provide doctors and health personnel with guidelines for instructing couples on the proper use of abstinence methods (the basal body temperature method, cervical mucus method, cervical palpation method, sympto-thermal method, and calendar method).
2006 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 10 Dec. 6 He teaches a combination of the basal body temperature method in which you keep track of your temperature..and the ovulation method in which you check cervical secretions (mucus) to determine when you ovulate.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1610