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To support on a narrow base, so as to keep from falling; as, to balance a plate on the end of a cane; to balance one's self on a tight rope.

A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football.

Ballad poems; the subject or style of ballads. "Base balladry is so beloved." Drayton.

the family Bucconidæ, allied to the Cuckoos, having a large, conical beak swollen at the base, and bearded with five bunches of stiff bristles; the puff bird. It inhabits tropical America and Africa.

Relating to, or forming, the base. Basal cleavage. See under Cleavage. -- Basal plane (Crystallog.), one parallel to the lateral or horizontal axis.

Having the nerves radiating from the base; -- said of leaves.

A combining form, especially in anatomical and botanical words, to indicate the base or position at or near a base; forming a base; as, basibranchials, the most ventral of the cartilages or bones of the branchial arches; basicranial, situated at the base of the cranium; basifacial, basitemporal, etc.…

Relating to a base; performing the office of a base in a salt.

The quality or state of being a base.

That which converts into a salifiable base.

Tending or proceeding away from the base; as, a basifugal growth.

To convert into a salifiable base.

Relating to, or situated at, the base.

Of or pertaining to the bone in the base of the cranium, frequently forming a part of the occipital in the adult, but usually distinct in the young. -- n.

A bar of cartilage at the base of the embryonic fins of some fishes. It develops into the metapterygium. -- Ba*sip`ter*yg"i*al (, a.

Applied to a protuberance of the base of the sphenoid bone.

Prolonged at the base, as certain leaves.

Of or pertaining to that part of the base of the cranium between the basioccipital and the presphenoid, which usually ossifies separately in the embryo or in the young, and becomes a part of the sphenoid in the adult.

A group of Pulmonifera having the eyes at the base of the tentacles, including the common pond snails.

One who sings, or the instrument which plays, bass. [Written also base.] Thorough bass. See Thorough bass.