☼ Concept Map

''bass'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260915190735-00-⌔

bass - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

bass (comparative basser, superlative bassest)

  • Of sound, a voice or an instrument, low in pitch or frequency.
    • ✤ The giant spoke in a deep, bass, rumbling voice that shook me to my boots.

Noun

bass (plural basses)

  • A low spectrum of sound tones.
    • ✤ Peter adjusted the equalizer on his audio equipment to emphasize the bass.
  • (music) A section of a musical group that produces low-pitched sound, lower than the baritone and tenor.
    • ✤ Coordinate terms: (female) soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto; (male) countertenor, tenor, baritone, bass
    • ✤ The conductor preferred to situate the bass in the middle rear, rather than to one side of the orchestra.
  • (music) One who sings in the bass range.
    • ✤ Synonym: basso
    • ✤ Halfway through middle school, Edgar morphed from a soprano to a bass, much to the amazement and amusement of his fellow choristers.
  • (music) An instrument that plays in the bass range, in particular a bass guitar, double bass, electric bass, or bass synthesiser.
    • ✤ The musician swung the bass over his head like an axe and smashed it into the amplifier, creating a discordant howl of noise.
  • (music notation) The clef sign that indicates that the pitch of the notes is below middle C.
    • ✤ Synonyms: bass clef, F clef
    • ✤ The score had been written without the treble and bass, but it was easy to pick out which was which based on the location of the notes on the staff.

Verb

bass (third-person singular simple present basses, present participle bassing, simple past and past participle bassed)

  • (transitive) To sound in a deep tone.
    • ✤ […] and the Thunder/(That deepe and dreadfull Organ-Pipe) pronounc’d/The name of Proſper: it did baſe my Treſpaſſe1

Noun

bass (countable and uncountable, plural basses or bass)

  • The perch; any of various marine and freshwater fish resembling the perch, all within the order of Perciformes.

Noun

bass (countable and uncountable, plural basses)

  • The fibrous inner bark of the linden or lime tree, used for making mats.
  • Fibers from other plants, especially palm trees
  • Anything made from such fibers, such as a hassock, basket or thick mat.
    • ✤ * BASS, 1, a door mat]*2
    • ✤ I set off half-heartedly, as best I could sheltering my spare clothes (which were in the straw fish- bass) under my coat. […] The rain made a channel from my trilby down my neck and one handle of the fish- bass gave way.3

Etymology 1

🖼️ ➺ 🖼️ ➺ 🔊

🖼️ ➺

A respelling of base under the influence of Italian basso (“low”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: bās, IPA: /beɪs/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -eɪs
  • Homophone: base

Etymology 2

🖼️ ➺

From Middle English bace, bas, alteration of bars, from Old English bærs (“a fish, perch”), from Proto-West Germanic ﹡bars, from Proto-Germanic ﹡barsaz (“perch”, literally “prickly”), from Proto-Indo-European ﹡bʰórsos (“prickle, thorn, scale”). Cognate with Dutch baars (“perch, bass”), German Barsch (“perch”). More at barse.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: băs, IPA: /bæs/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -æs
  • Homophone: Bass

Etymology 3

A corruption of bast.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: băs, IPA: /bæs/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -æs
  • Homophone: Bass

Printed 2026-09-15.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], lines 99-99: ↩

  2. [1865, William Stott Banks, A List of Provincial Words in use at Wakefield in Yorkshire, Wakefield: J.R.Smith, page 6: ↩

  3. 1982 [1980], J. L. Carr, A Month in the Country, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books/Harvester Press, →ISBN, page 2: ↩