Chapter Base to Bath Stone of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

his “subjects” every year, and administered justice twice a week. Henri III. suppressed the title of the chief, and transferred all his functions and privileges to the Chancellor.

Bass Matting made of bast, that is the lime or linden tree. Dutch, bast, bark; Swedish, basta, to bind; so called because used for binding. “Ribbons from the linden tree give a wreath no charms to me.” The shepherds of Carniola make a cloth of the outer bark. The inner bark is made into Russian matting, and is serviceable to gardeners for packing, tying up plants, protecting trees, etc. Other materials are now used for the same purposes, and for hassocks, etc., but the generic word bass designates both bast- bark and all its imitations.

Bastard Any sweetened wine, but more correctly applied to a sweet Spanish wine (white or brown) made of the bastard muscadine grape.

“I will pledge you willingly in a cup of bastard.”- Sir Walter Scott: Kenilworth, chap. iii.

Baste (1 syl.). I'll baste your jacket for you, i.e. cane you. I'll give you a thorough basting, i.e. beating. (Spanish, baston, a stick; Italian, bastone; French, bâton.)

Bastille means simply a building (French, bastir, now bâtir, to build). Charles V. built it as a royal château; Philippe- Auguste enclosed it with a high wall; St. Louis administered justice in the park, under the oak-trees; Philippe de Valois demolished the old château and commenced a new one; Louis XI. first used it as a state prison; and it was demolished by the rabble in the French Revolution, July 14th, 1789.

Bastinado A beating (Italian, bastone; French, baston, now bâton, a stick). The Chinese, Turks, and Persians punish offenders by beating them on the soles of the feet. The Turks call the punishment zarb.

Bastion (A), in fortification, is a work having two faces and two flanks, all the angles of which are salient, that is, pointing outwards towards the country. The line of rampart which joins together the flanks of two bastions is technically called a curtain.
   Bastions in fortifications were invented in 1480 by Achmet Pasha; but San Michaeli of Verona, in 1527, is said by Maffei and Vasari to have been the real inventor.

Bat Harlequin's lath wand (French, battle, a wooden sword).
   To carry out one's bat (in cricket). Not to be “out” when the time for drawing the stumps has arrived.
   Off his own bat. By his own exertions; on his own account. A cricketer's phrase, meaning runs won by a single player.

Bat-horses and Bat-men. Bat-horses are those which carry officers' baggage during a campaign (French, bât, a pack-saddle). Bat-men are those who look after the pack-horses.

Batavia The Netherlands; so called from the Batavi, a Celtic tribe who dwelt there.

“Flat Batavia's willowy groves.”
Wordsworth.

Bate me an Ace (See Bolton. )

Bath Knights of the Bath. This name is derived from the ceremony of bathing, which used to be practised at the inauguration of a knight, as a symbol of purity. The last knights created in this ancient form were at the coronation of Charles II. in 1661. G.C.B. stands for Grand Cross of the Bath (the first-class); K.C.B. Knight Commander of the Bath (the second class); C.B. Companion of the Bath (the third class).
   King of Bath. Richard Nash, generally called Beau Nash, a celebrated master of the ceremonies at Bath for fifty-six years. (1674-1761.)
   There, go to Bath with you! Don't talk nonsense. Insane persons used to be sent to Bath for the benefit of its mineral waters. The implied reproof is, what you say is so silly, you ought to go to Bath and get your head shaved.

Bath Brick Alluvial matter made in the form of a brick, and used for cleaning knives and polishing metals. It is not made at Bath, but at Bridgwater, being dredged from the river Parrett, which runs through Bridgwater.