Obs. or dial. Forms: 3 beȝȝsc, 4–5 baisk(e, 4–6 bask. [a. ON. beisk bitter, acrid; hence the etymological form is baisk.] Bitter, acrid, ungrateful or irritating to the senses.
c. 1200. Ormin, 6698. Itt iss full bitterr & full beȝȝsc.
c. 1300[?]. MS. Cott. Faust., B. vi. f. 123 b. The froite … is soure And baiske and bittere of odoure.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks. (1871), III. 42. Pride and covetise … ben bask or bittir synnes.
a. 1500. Clapperton, Wa Worth Maryage. Of boure-bourding baith bask and bair.
1808. Jamieson, s.v., ‘A bask day,’ a day distinguished by drought with a withering wind (Dumfriesshire).
