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.
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.
