bathe
/beɪð/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.22 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To clean oneself by immersion in water or using water; to take a bath, have a bath.
Intransitive verb
verb
To immerse oneself, or part of the body, in water for pleasure or refreshment; to swim.
Intransitive verb
verb
To clean a person by immersion in water or using water; to give someone a bath.
Transitive verb
noun
The act of swimming or bathing, especially in the sea, a lake, or a river; a swimming bath.
British usage; Colloquial
Example Sentences
- "We do not bathe to make ourselves clean, but to keep clean, and for the sake of its health-giving and invigorating effects. Once a week a warm bath, at about 100°, may be used, with plenty of soap, in order to thoroughly cleanse the pores of the skin."
- "A Greek historian Phylarchus describes a white root indigenous to India that caused eunuchism when a person bathed in water in which the root was steeped."
- "'I feel very guilty,' she said sitting down beside him. 'But I've been bathing every day while you've been lying here.'"
- "We bathe our baby before going to bed; other parents do it in the morning if they have time."
- "She bathed her eyes with liquid to remove the stinging chemical."
- "The nurse bathed his wound with a sponge."
Etymology
From Middle English bathen, from Old English baþian (“to bathe, wash”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþōn, from Proto-Germanic *baþōną (“to bathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian boadje (“to bathe”), Dutch baden (“to bathe”), German Low German baden (“to bathe”), German baden (“to bathe”), Danish bade (“to bathe”), Swedish bada (“to bathe”), Icelandic baða (“to bathe”). More at bath. Compare also bask.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *bʰeh₁-, bathen, baþian, *baþōn, *baþōną