baste

C2+ Topic:Food & Drink
US /beɪst/ UK /beɪst/
Homophones
verb

Meanings

  1. 1
    verb

    to moisten roasting meat with fat or juices; also to tack with loose stitches

    Baste the turkey every twenty minutes to keep it moist.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 verb · to moisten roasting meat... moistendrizzlebrushtackstitchsew
Word family
Derived forms basterbasting

Etymology

The cooking sense is of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old French basser ('to moisten'); the sewing sense ('to tack') is from Old French bastir ('to sew loosely, build'), of Germanic origin.

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Topics

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