Bast

Quick meaning: Bast is a noun meaning Inner bark of a tree from which rope is traditionally made.

Meaning

Inner bark of a tree from which rope is traditionally made.

More Meanings

1. Fibre made from the phloem of certain plants (particularly the lime tree) and used for making ropes, cords and matting.
2. (obsolete) Bastardy, illegitimacy of birth.
3. (obsolete) Illegitimate, born out of wedlock.

Example Sentences

I thought I saw Him in the Long Walk there, by the bed of Nelly Roche, tending a fallen flower with a wisp of bast.

He had taken along a long bast rope in his sleigh, since it was the custom on longer journeys to have a spare rope in case the reins needed mending.

At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.

[T]here would be seen his face, or that of his elder brother, peering down. A guttural sound, and the tip-tap of bast slippers beating the narrow wooden stairs, and he would stand before one without coat, a little bent, in leather apron, with sleeves turned back, blinking[…]

Word Forms

• basts
• bass

Synonyms for bast

Depending on context, synonyms include phloem.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include phloem, plant, mill, factory, usine, fibre.

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