to sew with long, loose stitches, as in temporarily tacking together pieces of a garment while it is being made.
Origin: 1400–50; late Middle English basten < Anglo-French, Middle French bastir to build, baste < Germanic; compare Old High German bestan to mend, patch for *bastian to bring together with bast thread or string (bastbast + -i- v. suffix + -an infinitive suffix)
"beat, thrash," 1530s, perhaps from the cookery sense of baste (2) or from some Scandinavian source (e.g. Swedish basa "to beat, flog," bösta "to thump") akin to O.N. beysta "to beat," related to O.E. beatan (see beat).