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basement - 4 dictionary results

base⋅ment

[beys-muhnt]
–noun
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 substructure of a columnar or arched construction.

Origin:
1720–30; base 1 + -ment
base·ment   (bās'mənt)   
n.  
  1. The substructure or foundation of a building.
  2. The lowest habitable story of a building, usually below ground level.
  3. Geology 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 base1 + -ment (perhaps influenced by French soubassement, subfoundation).]

Basement

Base"ment\, n. [F. soubassement. Of uncertain origin. Cf. Base, a., Bastion.] (Arch.) The outer wall of the ground story of a building, or of a part of that story, when treated as a distinct substructure. ( See Base, n., 3 (a) .) Hence: The rooms of a ground floor, collectively.

Basement membrane (Anat.), a delicate membrane composed of a single layer of flat cells, forming the substratum upon which, in many organs, the epithelioid cells are disposed.
Language Translation for : basement
Spanish: sótano,
German: das Kellergeschoß;der Keller,
Japanese: 地下室

basement 
"lowest story of a building except the cellar," 1730, from base (n.).
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