Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

băsis, is and ĕos (gen. basis, Vulg. 3 Reg. 7, 27; 7, 34: baseos, Vitr. 10, 15; acc. usu. basim, but BASEM, Inscr. Orell. 1263 al.: basidem, Ven. Fort. 8, 14; abl. usu. basi, but base, Treb. Pol. Gall. 18, 4; Inscr. Grut. 63, 3: BASIDE, ib. 16, 14; gen. plur. BASIVM, Inscr. Orell. 3272), f., = βάσις, a pedestal, foot, base.

  1. I. In gen.: in basi statuarum, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 63, § 154; 2, 2, 66, § 160; 2, 4, 34, § 74; id. Phil. 9, 7, 16: quo (sc. ad sepulcrum) cum patefactus esset aditus, ad adversam basim accessimus, id. Tusc. 5, 23, 66: colossici Apollinis basis, Vitr. 10, 6: supra basim eriguntur regulae, id. 10, 13; Ov. P. 3, 2, 52; Phaedr. 2, epil. 2; Plin. 17, 25, 38, § 244; Suet. Vesp. 23; Inscr. Orell. 49; Vulg. Exod. 26, 19: villae, the foundation-wall, Cic. Q. Fr. 3, 1, 2, § 5.
    1. B. Trop.: bases virtutis, foundations, Vulg. Ecclus. 6, 30.
  2. II. In partic., prov.: aliquem cum basi suā metiri, to measure a pillar together with its pedestal, i. e. to give false measure, to estimate too high, Sen. Ep. 76, 31.
  3. III. Esp.
    1. A. In math.: basis trianguli, the base of a triangle, Cic. N. D. 2, 49, 125: arcus, the chord of an arc, Col. 5, 2, 9; 3, 13, 12.
    2. B. In archit., the lowest part of the shaft of a column, Vitr. 4, 1, 6 (our pedestal is expressed by spira, q. v.).
    3. C. In gram., the primitive word, the root, Varr. ap. Non. p. 79, 33.
    4. D. Of cattle, a track, footprint, Veg. 1, 25, 6; 1, 26, 1; 1, 3, 46 al.