2. Very modest, or modest to excess; constitutionally disposed to shrink from public notice; indicating extreme or excessive modesty; shy; as, a bashful person, action, expression.
Syn. -- Diffident; retiring; reserved; shamefaced; sheepish.
Bash"ful*ly, adv. In a bashful manner.
Bash"ful*ness, n. The quality of being bashful.
Syn. -- Bashfulness, Modesty, Diffidence, Shyness. Modesty arises from a low estimate of ourselves; bashfulness is an abashment or agitation of the spirits at coming into contact with others; diffidence is produced by an undue degree of self-distrust; shyness usually arises from an excessive self-consciousness, and a painful impression that every one is looking at us. Modesty of deportment is becoming in all; bashfulness often gives rise to mistakes and blundering; diffidence in society frequently makes a man a burden to himself; shyness usually produces a reserve or distance which is often mistaken for haughtiness.
||Bash"i-ba*zouk" (bsh"*b*zk"), n. [Turkish, light-headed, a foolish fellow.] A soldier belonging to the irregular troops of the Turkish army.
Bash"less, a. Shameless; unblushing. [Obs.] Spenser.
Bas"hyle (&?;), n. (Chem.) See Basyle.
Ba"si- (&?;). A combining form, especially in anatomical and botanical words, to indicate the base or position at or near a base; forming a base; as, basibranchials, the most ventral of the cartilages or bones of the branchial arches; basicranial, situated at the base of the cranium; basifacial, basitemporal, etc.
Ba"sic (&?;), a. 1. (Chem.) (a) Relating to a base; performing the office of a base in a salt. (b) Having the base in excess, or the amount of the base atomically greater than that of the acid, or exceeding in proportion that of the related neutral salt. (c) Apparently alkaline, as certain normal salts which exhibit alkaline reactions with test paper.
2. (Min.) Said of crystalline rocks which contain a relatively low percentage of silica, as basalt.
Basic salt (Chem.), a salt formed from a base or hydroxide by the partial replacement of its hydrogen by a negative or acid element or radical.
Ba*sic"er*ite (b*ss"r*t), n. [Basi- + Gr. ke`ras horn, antenna.] (Zoöl.) The second joint of the antennæ of crustaceans.
Ba*sic"i*ty, n. (Chem.) (a) The quality or state of being a base. (b) The power of an acid to unite with one or more atoms or equivalents of a base, as indicated by the number of replaceable hydrogen atoms contained in the acid.
Ba*sid"i*o*spore (&?;), n. [Basidium + spore.] (Bot.) A spore borne by a basidium. -- Ba*sid`i*o*spor"ous (&?;), a.
||Ba*sid"i*um (&?;), n. [NL., dim. of Gr. ba`sis base.] (Bot.) A special oblong or pyriform cell, with slender branches, which bears the spores in that division of fungi called Basidiomycetes, of which the common mushroom is an example.
Ba"si*fi`er (&?;), n. (Chem.) That which converts into a salifiable base.
Ba*sif"u*gal (&?;), a. [Base, n. + L. fugere to flee.] (Bot.) Tending or proceeding away from the base; as, a basifugal growth.
Ba"si*fy (&?;), v. t. [Base + - fy.] (Chem.) To convert into a salifiable base.
||Ba`si*gyn"i*um (&?;), n. [NL., fr. Gr. basis base + gynh woman.] (Bot.) The pedicel on which the ovary of certain flowers, as the passion flower, is seated; a carpophore or thecaphore.
Ba`si*hy"al (&?;), a. [Basi- + Gr. υ (the letter "upsilon"); from the shape.] (Anat.) Noting two small bones, forming the body of the inverted hyoid arch.
Ba`si*hy"oid (&?;), n. [Basi- + hyoid.] (Anat.) The central tongue bone.
Bas"il (bz"l), n. [Cf. F. basile and E. Bezel.] The slope or angle to which the cutting edge of a tool, as a plane, is ground. Grier.
Bas"il, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Basiled (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Basiling.] To grind or form the edge of to an angle. Moxon.
Bas"il, n. [F. basilic, fr. L. basilicus royal, Gr. basiliko`s fr. basiley`s king.] (Bot.) The name given to several aromatic herbs of the Mint family, but chiefly to the common or sweet basil (Ocymum basilicum), and the bush basil, or lesser basil (O. minimum), the leaves of which are used in cookery. The name is also given to several kinds of mountain mint (Pycnanthemum).
Basil thyme, a name given to the fragrant herbs Calamintha Acinos and C. Nepeta. -- Wild basil, a plant (Calamintha clinopodium) of the Mint family.
Bas"il (bz"l), n. [Corrupt. from E. basan, F. basane, LL. basanium, bazana, fr. Ar. bithna, prop., lining.] The skin of a sheep tanned with bark.
{ Bas"i*lar (&?;), Bas"i*la*ry (&?;), } a. [F. basilaire, fr. L. basis. See Base, n.] 1. Relating to, or situated at, the base.
2. Lower; inferior; applied to impulses or springs of action. [R.] "Basilar instincts." H. W. Beecher.
Ba*sil"ic (&?;), n. [F. basilique.] Basilica.
{ Ba*sil"ic (&?;), Ba*sil"ic*al (&?;), } a. [See Basilica.] 1. Royal; kingly; also, basilican.
2. (Anat.) Pertaining to certain parts, anciently supposed to have a specially important function in the animal economy, as the middle vein of the right arm.
Ba*sil"i*ca (&?;), n.; pl. Basilicas (&?;); sometimes Basilicæ (-s). [L. basilica, Gr. basilikh` (sc. o'iki`a or stoa` fr. basiliko`s royal, fr. basiley`s king.] 1. Originally, the palace of a king; but afterward, an apartment provided in the houses of persons of importance, where assemblies were held for dispensing justice; and hence, any large hall used for this purpose.
2. (Arch.) (a) A building used by the Romans as a place of public meeting, with court rooms, etc., attached. (b) A church building of the earlier centuries of Christianity, the plan of which was taken from the basilica of the Romans. The name is still applied to some churches by way of honorary distinction.
Ba*sil"i*ca, n. A digest of the laws of Justinian, translated from the original Latin into Greek, by order of Basil I., in the ninth century. P. Cyc.
Ba*sil"i*can (&?;), a. Of, relating to, or resembling, a basilica; basilical.
There can be no doubt that the first churches in Constantinople were in the basilican form.
Milman.