bath

¹ American  

[bath, bahth] / bæθ, bɑθ /

noun

plural

baths

1. a washing or immersion of something, especially the body, in water, steam, etc., as for cleansing or medical treatment.

   I take a bath every day. Give the dog a bath.

2. a quantity of water or other liquid used for this purpose.

   running a bath.

3. a container for water or other cleansing liquid, as a bathtub.

4. a room equipped for bathing; bathroom.

   The house has two baths.

5. a building containing rooms or apartments with equipment for bathing; bathhouse.

6. Often baths one of the elaborate bathing establishments of the ancients.

   the baths of Caracalla.

7. Usually baths a town or resort visited for medical treatment by bathing or the like; spa.

8. a preparation, as an acid solution, in which something is immersed.

9. the container for such a preparation.

10. a device for controlling the temperature of something by the use of a surrounding medium, as sand, water, oil, etc.

11. Metallurgy.

    1. the depressed hearth of a steelmaking furnace.

    2. the molten metal being made into steel in a steelmaking furnace.

12. the state of being covered by a liquid, as perspiration.

    in a bath of sweat.

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verb (used with or without object)

Chiefly British.

bathed, bathing

1. to wash or soak in a bath.

idioms

1. take a bath, to suffer a large financial loss.

   Many investors are taking a bath on their bond investments.

bath ² American  

[bath] / bæθ /

noun

1. a Hebrew unit of liquid measure, equal to a quantity varying between 10 and 11 U.S. gallons (38 and 42 liters).

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Bath ³ American  

[bath, bahth] / bæθ, bɑθ /

noun

1. a city in Avon, in SW England: mineral springs.

2. a seaport in SW Maine.

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bath ¹ British  

/ bɑːθ /

noun

1. a large container, esp one made of enamelled iron or plastic, used for washing or medically treating the body

2. the act or an instance of washing in such a container

3. the amount of liquid contained in a bath

4. to turn on the taps to fill a bath with water for bathing oneself

5. (usually plural) a place that provides baths or a swimming pool for public use

6. 1. a vessel in which something is immersed to maintain it at a constant temperature, to process it photographically, electrolytically, etc, or to lubricate it

   2. the liquid used in such a vessel

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verb

1. to wash in a bath

Ba'th ² British  

/ bɑːθ /

noun

1. an Arab Socialist party, esp in Iraq and Syria, founded by Michel Aflaq in 1941. It attempts to combine Marxism with pan-Islamic nationalism

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Bath ³ British  

/ bɑːθ /

noun

1. Latin name: Aquae Sulis.  a city in SW England, in Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, on the River Avon: famous for its hot springs; a fashionable spa in the 18th century; Roman remains, notably the baths; university (1966). Pop: 90 144 (2001)

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bath ⁴ British  

/ bæθ /

noun

1. an ancient Hebrew unit of liquid measure equal to about 8.3 Imperial gallons or 10 US gallons

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bath More Idioms  

1. see take a bath; throw out the baby with the bath water.

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Other Word Forms

• Ba′thi adjective
• Ba′thism noun
• Ba′thist noun
• bathless adjective

Etymology

Origin of bath¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun bath, beth, beath, Old English bæth; cognate with Old Frisian beth, Old Saxon, Old Norse bath, German Bad; from Germanic bátha-n “what is warmed,” from a root meaning “to warm”

Origin of bath²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English bath(us), batus, from Latin batus, from Greek bátos, from Hebrew bath

Explanation

The action of soaking or washing yourself in water is a bath. You might take a bubble bath to relax before bed after a stressful day. Your soak in soapy water is a bath, and the tub in which you're lying is also a bath. Other containers of water are baths too, particularly in cooking: "If the custard's sitting in a hot water bath, it will cook more evenly." While the Old English root bæð means "immersing in water," it also means "immersing in mud." If an investor "takes a bath," it means, colloquially, that she loses a lot of money.

Example Sentences

On Monday, Japanese toilet giant Toto halted orders for prefabricated bath units because of a shortage of naphtha, a critical petrochemical derived from crude oil.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

In Hästens mattress showroom on Beverly Boulevard, he hosts a small but sought-after sound bath happening called the “Deep Reset Luxury Sound Bath Experience.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

Clips of a duckling swimming in a bath or two happy pooches patrolling their neighbourhood are examples of the curated programming on "PetTV".

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

Marcel Proust wrote in bed; Dalton Trumbo in a bath; Agatha Christie only needed “a steady table and a typewriter.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

There was the place she had taken a bath.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Related Words

• bathroom
• lavatory
• restroom
• sauna
• shower
• toilet