bathe

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To wash yourself or someone else in water; to take a bath.

   She bathes the baby every evening before bed.

2. 2
   verb

   To gently wash a part of the body with liquid, often to treat it.

   He bathed the cut on his knee with warm water.

3. 3
   verb

   To cover something completely in light or warmth.

   The whole room was bathed in golden sunlight.

4. 4
   noun

   A swim, especially in the sea, a river, or a lake.

   We went for a bathe in the cool river.

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.

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