BAS
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BAS
board side. The French use the wordsbas-bord and stri-bord to distinguish theright and left sides of a sluice, when aperson is going through. Stri-bord is• the right, and bas-bord the left, or star-board and larboard , looking at the prowof a ship.
BASALTES , a sort of marble of aniron colour: the hardest block mar-ble.
BASCULE , Fr. a counterpoise whichserves to lift up the draw-bridge of atown. Likewise a term used in fortifi-cation to express a door that shuts andopens like a trap-door.
BASE, rest, support, foundation;any body which bears another. It par-ticularly applies to the lower parts of acolumn, or pedestal.
Base, or Basis, in fortification, theexterior part or side of a polygon, orthat imaginary line which is drawn fromthe flanked angle of a bastion to theangle opposite to it.
Base signifies also the level line onwhich any work stands that is even withthe ground, or other work on which itis erected. Hence the base of a parapetis the rampart.
Base-/mz£, the line on which troops incolumn move. The first division thatmarches into the alignment forms thebase-line, which each successive divisionprolongs.
Base -line also signifies the line onwhich all the magazines and means ofsupply of an army are established, andfrom which the lines of operation pro-ceed.
Base -ring. See Cannon.
Base, with gunners, the smallestpiece of ordnance, 4 feet and a halflong, the diameter at the bore 1 inch 3quarter; it weighs 203 pounds, carries aball 1 inch l-8th diameter, and weighslive or six ounces.
BASIL , with joiners, the angle towhich the edge of an iron tool is ground.To work on soft wood, basils are usuallymade twelve degrees; for hard wood,eighteen degrees: it being observed,that the more acute or thin the basil is,the better and smoother it cuts; andthe more obtuse, the stronger and fitterfor service.
BASILISK , an ancient name given toa 48 pounder. See Cannon.
BASIS. See Base.
BASKET-AzYtf, the hilt of a sword,so made as to contain and guard thewhole hand.
BASKETS, in military affairs, aresimple baskets, frequently used in sieges.They are filled with earth, and placedon the parapet of a trench, or any otherpart. They are generally about a footand a half in diameter at the top, andeight inches at the bottom, and a footand a half in height; so that, beingplaced on the parapet, a kind of embra-sure is formed at the bottom, throughwhich the soldiers fire, without being ex-posed to the shot of the enemy. SeeGabion .
There are common wicker baskets,bushel and half-bushel, used in thefield in making batteries, &c. besidesthe gabion appropriated to forming partof the batteries, by being filled withearth.
BAS-OFFICIEItS, Fr. non-commis-sioned officers, i . e. serjeants and cor-porals, are so called in the French ser-vice. With us, the serjeants and lanceserjeants only are so called.
BASON, a reservatory of water, asthe bason of a jet d'eau or fountain. Itis also applied to a port or harbour, asthe inner or outward bason, where shipsmay be moored.
BASSE, Fr. a collar for cart-horses,made of rushes, sedge, straw, &c.
BASSIN, Fr. a wet dock.
Bassin de partage, Fr. that spot, inan artificial canal, where the summit ofthe slope is on a level, and the watersjoin for the continuation of the canal.Point de partage is the point w here thejunction is formed.
Bassin & chaux, Fr. a lime-kiln, or aplace where lime is slaked and mortarlmade.
BASSINET , Fr. the pan of a musket.
BASSO-RELIEVO ) c «
t> , C o i) py rnr , > bee Relievo.
BASS-RELILl', S
BASSON or BASSOON, a wind in-strument blown with a reed, performingthe base to all martial music, one or twoof which are attached to each regimentalband.
BASTILLE, Fr. any place fortifiedwith towers.
Bastille, a state prison which stoodnear the Temple in Paris , and was de-stroyed by the inhabitants of that capi-tal on the 14th of July, 1789.
BASTINADO, a punishment amongthe Turkish soldiers, which is performedby beating them with a cane or the flatside of a sword on the soles of theirfeet. Among the French , the culprit istied upou a bundle of straw, and re-