bathe

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of swimming

   I had a good bathe in the river.

2. 2
   verb

   to clean one's body by immersion into water

   The child should bathe every day.

3. 3
   verb

   to suffuse with or as if with light

   The room was bathed in sunlight.

4. 4
   verb

   To clean oneself by immersion in water or using water; to take a bath, have a bath.

   We do not bathe to make ourselves clean, but to keep clean, and for the sake of its health-giving and invigorating effects. Once a week a warm bath, at about 100°, may be used, with plenty of soap, in order to thoroughly cleanse the pores of the skin.

5. 5
   verb

   To clean a person by immersion in water or using water; to give someone a bath.

   We bathe our baby before going to bed; other parents do it in the morning if they have time.

6. 6
   verb

   To apply water or other liquid to; to suffuse or cover with liquid.

   She bathed her eyes with liquid to remove the stinging chemical.

7. 7
   verb

   To cover or surround.

   The room was bathed in moonlight.

8. 8
   verb

   To sunbathe.

   The women bathed in the sun.

Etymology

From Middle English bathen, from Old English baþian (“to bathe, wash”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþōn, from Proto-Germanic *baþōną (“to bathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian boadje (“to bathe”), Dutch baden (“to bathe”), German Low German baden (“to bathe”), German baden (“to bathe”), Danish bade (“to bathe”), Swedish bada (“to bathe”), Icelandic baða (“to bathe”). More at bath. Compare also bask.