bask
Americanverb (used without object)
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to lie in or be exposed to a pleasant warmth.
to bask in the sunshine.
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to enjoy a pleasant situation.
He basked in royal favor.
verb (used with object)
verb
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to lie in or be exposed to pleasant warmth, esp that of the sun
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to flourish or feel secure under some benevolent influence or favourable condition
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have baskedperfect
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has baskedperfect 3rd person singular
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am baskingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been baskingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is baskingprogressive 3rd person singular
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are baskingprogressive
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have been baskingperfect progressive
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baskssingular 3rd person
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baskingparticiple
Past
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had baskedperfect
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had been baskingperfect progressive
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were baskingprogressive plural
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was baskingprogressive singular
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baskedparticiple
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baskedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of bask
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Old Norse bathask “to bathe oneself,” equivalent to bath- bath 1 + -ask reflexive suffix
Explanation
To bask in something is to take it in, receive its warmth, or bathe in its goodness. On the first warm day of the spring, you may bask in the sunshine. When you win the Pulitzer, you bask in your own glory. In Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” Jaques says: “...As I do live by food, I met a fool; Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun,; And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms...” That was most likely the first time bask was used in the way that we most often use it now: to bask is to warm yourself, either literally or figuratively, in the glow of the sun, good fortune, happiness, or a job well done.
Vocabulary lists containing bask
The Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer
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And Then There Were None
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This Week in Pop Culture: December 1 - 7, 2018
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
