basket

Etymology

From Middle English basket, from Anglo-Norman bascat, of obscure origin. One theory is that it derives from Late Latin bascauda (“kettle, table-vessel”), from Proto-Brythonic (in Breton baskodenn), from Proto-Celtic *baskis (“bundle, load”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰask- (“bundle”). Related to Latin fascis (“bundle, package, load”). Doublet of fasces.

noun

1. A lightweight container, generally round, open at the top, and tapering toward the bottom.
   A basket of fake fruit adorned the table.
   1. (by extension) A bed for a cat.
2. A wire or plastic container similar in shape to a basket, used for carrying articles for purchase in a shop.
3. (Internet) In an online shop, a listing of a customer's chosen items before they are ordered.
4. (figurative) A set or collection of intangible things.
   The basket of issues that developing countries had vigorously wanted addressed such as agriculture, SANDD and implementation-related issues were given scant attention by developed countries for most part of the conference. 2004, Gichinga Ndirangu, Heinrich Böll Foundation (Nairobi, Kenya), An African civil society action toward WTO 2003 (page 16)
5. (basketball) A circular hoop, from which a net is suspended, which is the goal through which the players try to throw the ball.
   The point guard drove toward the basket.
6. (basketball) The act of putting the ball through the basket, thereby scoring points.
   The last-second basket sealed the victory.
7. (uncountable) The game of basketball.
   Let's play some basket.
8. A dance movement in some line dances, where men put their arms round the women's lower backs, and the women put their arms over the men's shoulders, and the group (usually of four, any more is difficult) spins round, which should result in the women's feet leaving the ground.
9. (LGBT, slang) The male genitalia and region surrounding it.
10. (slang) The bulge of the male genitals seen through clothing.
11. (obsolete) In a stage-coach, two outside seats facing each other.
    In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stage-coach. Its fopperies come down not only as inside passengers, but in the very basket. 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer
12. (archaic) A protection for the hand on a sword or a singlestick; a guard of a bladed weapon.
    1. A singlestick with a basket hilt.
       Baw! damme, but I'll fight you both, one after the other——with baskets. 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer
13. (ballooning) The gondola or wicker basket suspended from the balloon, in which the pilot and passengers travel.
    Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth. 2013-06-07, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36
14. (architecture) The bell or vase of the Corinthian capital.
    Thus the capital of the Corinthian column always resembles a deep narrow basket covered with a tile, and completely surrounded by foliage 1832, Edward Hall, Civil Architecture
15. (informal, euphemistic) Bastard.
    Wait till I catch you, you little basket!
16. (military, aircraft) A drogue (or para-drogue) in the probe-and-drogue refueling method
    Don't smoosh the basket.

verb

1. (transitive) To place in a basket or baskets.
2. (transitive, publishing) To cross-collateralize the royalty advances for multiple works so that the creator is not paid until all of those works have achieved a certain level of success.
   Foreign language paperback, serial and book club would be basketed together in a 50/50 subsidiary rights clause. 1974, Publishers Weekly, volume 206, numbers 1-14, page 70
   It may very well be that such "basketing" of hardcover, paperback, movie, and other rights within the divisions of […] 1981, Thomas Whiteside, The Blockbuster Complex