Forms: 5 bace, 6 bas, 6–7 base, 7–9 basse, 9 bass. [A phonetic corruption of BARSE, OE. bærs, another form of which was BASE sb.5]
1. The Common Perch (Perca fluviatilis), or an allied freshwater species.
[See BARSE, BASE sb.5].
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 20. Bace, fysche.
1586. Cogan, Haven Health (1636), 164. Roch, Loch, Base, Smelt, are very wholesome fishes.
1801. Gouvr. Morris, in Sparks, Life & Writ. (1832), III. 140. Trout and perch, called by the Dutch name of barsch, or bass.
1866. Intell. Observ., No. 56. 101. Sticklebacks, perches, basses.
b. Black Bass: a fish of the Perch family (Perca huro) found in Lake Huron.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVII. 432/1. The Black Bass … one of best-flavoured fishes of that lake.
1881. Harper’s Mag., Sept., 511. The much-prized black bass.
2. A voracious marine fish (Labrax lupus) of the Perch family, common in European seas; called also Sea-wolf and Sea-dace. Also an allied species (Sea-bass) caught on the coasts of North America.
1530. Palsgr., 196/1. Bace, fysshe, ung bar.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 106 b. Sucking Millet, swallowing Basse.
1611. Cotgr., Lubin, a base, or sea wolfe.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, VI. 237. There hath beene taken one thousand Bases at a draught.
1769. Pennant, Zool., III. 213. The basse is a strong, active, and voracious fish.
1852. Kingsley, Andromeda, 394. Chasing the bass and the mullet.
