bask

[bask, bahsk]

See more synonyms for bask on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)

to lie in or be exposed to a pleasant warmth: to bask in the sunshine.
to enjoy a pleasant situation: He basked in royal favor.

verb (used with object)

Obsolete. to expose to warmth or heat.

Origin of bask

1350–1400; Middle English < Old Norse bathask to bathe oneself, equivalent to bath- bath¹ + -ask reflexive suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for basking

lounge, relax, laze, loll, sunbathe, savor, revel, relish, indulge, sun, enjoy, wallow, welter, rollick, luxuriate

Examples from the Web for basking

Contemporary Examples of basking

Not coincidentally, his weekly is basking in the spotlight—and racking up huge sales—while performing this “service.”
Warsawgate Rocks Poland
Andrew Nagorski
June 24, 2014
But the separatists continue to think they are basking in the glory of their accomplishment.
Inside East Ukraine’s Make-Believe Republics
Jamie Dettmer
May 15, 2014
Lewis was enormously pleased with himself, basking in the attention from the New York media.
Banks Really Are Different Five Years After the Financial Crisis
Daniel Gross
September 17, 2013
Taken all together, Election Day has progressives “basking in the glow,” as Ellison puts it.
What Liberals Want in Second Obama Term
Michelle Cottle
November 13, 2012
Occasionally, Axwell raises his hands high in the air like an electro conductor, basking in his power over the crowd.
Axwell Presents Cosmic Opera at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom
Marlow Stern
February 25, 2012

Historical Examples of basking

To be with Evelyn was like basking in the sunshine of some happy sky!
Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
He was basking in the frankly admiring gaze of Miss Knowles.
Out of the Depths
Robert Ames Bennet
We meet them in the shade of the woods, and have to pass them basking on the sea-shore.
The Hour and the Man
Harriet Martineau
And I resented his basking thus openly in the fires of martyrdom.
The Prairie Mother
Arthur Stringer
Also, a name in the south for the basking shark, from its habit of lying in the sunshine.
The Sailor's Word-Book
William Henry Smyth

British Dictionary definitions for basking

bask

verb (intr usually foll by in)

to lie in or be exposed to pleasant warmth, esp that of the sun
to flourish or feel secure under some benevolent influence or favourable condition

Word Origin for bask

C14: from Old Norse bathask to bathe

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for basking

adj.

1742, present participle adjective from bask (v.). Basking shark is recorded from 1769.

bask

late 14c., basken "to wallow (in blood)," with loss of middle syllable, from Old Norse baðask "to bathe oneself," reflexive of baða "bathe" (see bathe). Modern meaning "soak up a flood of warmth" is apparently due to Shakespeare's use of the word in reference to sunshine in "As You Like It" (1600). Related: Basked; basking.