base·ment

(bās′mənt)

1. The substructure or foundation of a building.

2. The lowest habitable story of a building, usually below ground level.

3. A complex of undifferentiated igneous and metamorphic rocks underlying sedimentary strata.

4. Slang The last place or lowest level, as in competitive standings.

5. Chiefly New England A public toilet, especially one in a school.

[Probably base + -ment (perhaps influenced by French soubassement, subfoundation).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

basement

(ˈbeɪsmənt)

1. (Architecture)

a. a partly or wholly underground storey of a building, esp the one immediately below the main floor. Compare cellar

b. (as modifier): a basement flat.

2. (Architecture) the foundation or substructure of a wall or building

3. (Geological Science) geology a part of the earth's crust formed of hard igneous or metamorphic rock that lies beneath the cover of soft sedimentary rock, sediment, and soil

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

base•ment

(ˈbeɪs mənt)

n.

1. a story of a building, partly or wholly underground.

2. (in classical and Renaissance architecture) the portion of a building beneath the principal story, treated as a single compositional unit.

3. the lowermost portion of a structure.

4. the undifferentiated assemblage of crystalline rock that underlies the sedimentary strata in any region.

[1720–30]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	basement - the lowermost portion of a structure partly or wholly below ground level; often used for storage cellar cellarage - a storage area in a cellar storey, floor, story, level - a structure consisting of a room or set of rooms at a single position along a vertical scale; "what level is the office on?"
	2.	basement - the ground floor facade or interior in Renaissance architecture support - supporting structure that holds up or provides a foundation; "the statue stood on a marble support"

basement

noun cellar, crypt, lower ground floor (Brit.), vault, underground room They live in a basement in North London.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

الدّور التَّحْتاني من البنايَهطَابِق تـَحْتَ الَأرْضِ في بناءٍ

suterén

kælderkælder-

Keller Kellergeschoss

υπόγειο

sótano

kellari

sous-sol cave

podrum

alagsor

kjallari

seminterrato sotterraneo

地階

지하실

pusrūsisrūsys

puspagraba-puspagraba stāvspuspagrabs

suterénsuterénový

klet

källare

ห้องใต้ดิน

bodrumbodrum katı

tầng hầm

地下室

basement

[ˈbeɪsmənt]

A. N → sótano m

B. CPD basement flat (Brit) basement apartment (US) N → (apartamento m or (LAm) departamento m de) sótano m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

basement

[ˈbeɪsmənt]

n [house] → cave f

modif [room, club] → en sous-solbasement flat (British) n → appartement m en sous-solbase metal n (= non-precious metal) → métal m de basebase rate n (FINANCE) → taux m de base

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

basement

(in building) → Untergeschoss nt, → Untergeschoß nt (Aus), → Souterrain nt; (in house also) → Keller m, → Kellergeschoss nt, → Kellergeschoß nt (Aus); basement flat (Brit) or apartment → Souterrainwohnung f

(Archit, = foundations) → Fundament nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

basement

[ˈbeɪsmənt] n (of house) → seminterrato; (of shop) → scantinato

basement

(ˈbeismənt) noun

the lowest floor of a building, usually below ground level. She lives in a basement; (also adjective) a basement flat.

basement

→ طَابِق تـَحْتَ الَأرْضِ في بناءٍ suterén kælder Kellergeschoss υπόγειο sótano kellari sous-sol podrum seminterrato 地階 지하실 kelder kjeller suterena cave, porão подвал källare ห้องใต้ดิน bodrum tầng hầm 地下室

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Now, for prudent, most wise, and economic reasons, the blacksmith's shop was in the basement of his dwelling, but with a separate entrance to it; so that always had the young and loving healthy wife listened with no unhappy nervousness, but with vigorous pleasure, to the stout ringing of her young-armed old husband's hammer; whose reverberations, muffled by passing through the floors and walls, came up to her, not unsweetly, in her nursery; and so, to stout Labor's iron lullaby, the blacksmith's infants were rocked to slumber.

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I picked up my shoes and stockings and followed her through the living-room and down a flight of stairs into a basement. This basement was divided into a dining-room at the right of the stairs and a kitchen at the left.

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The house stands, or, rather, used to stand here when Mercia was a kingdom--I do not suppose that the basement can be later than the Norman Conquest.

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No provision had been made in the new building for a kitchen and dining room; but we discovered that by digging out a large amount of earth from under the building we could make a partially lighted basement room that could be used for a kitchen and dining room.

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It appeared that this house contained four rooms, besides a basement, and that it might be bought for fifteen hundred dollars, the lot and all.

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What his business was he did not say; but after his engagement to Winnie he took the trouble to get up before noon, and descending the basement stairs, make himself pleasant to Winnie's mother in the breakfast- room downstairs where she had her motionless being.

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The moon had set, but the night was so transparent that the white house-fronts between the elms looked gray against the snow, clumps of bushes made black stains on it, and the basement windows of the church sent shafts of yellow light far across the endless undulations.

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Emma had gone downstairs to speak with a friend in the basement, and he waited for her on the landing.

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And it's true, as papa says,-- that when we were brought up there was one extreme--we were kept in the basement, while our parents lived in the best rooms; now it's just the other way--the parents are in the wash house, while the children are in the best rooms.

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'The rooms on the third floor and on the basement were completely unfurnished, and in a condition of great neglect.

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On the contrary, between the level of the ditch and the basement of the rampart sprang up a perpendicular cliff of two hundred and fifty cubits, forming part of the precipitous Mount Moriah.

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The one in the basement of Brown's had written on Bill's slip of paper the words: '1 p.m.

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