Forms:—1–2 bæþ, 2–3 beð, 3 beaþ, 3–6 baþe, 3–7 bathe, 2– bath. [Common Teutonic: OE. bæð = OS. bað, OHG. bad, pad, mod.G. bad, ON. bað (not recorded in Gothic):—OTeut. *batho-(m), neut. Prob. f. OTeut. verbal base *bajo- to foment (cf. OHG. pâwan, pâan, mod.G. bähen), cogn. with L. fovēre; the idea of ‘heat’ being originally prominent in bath: cf. STEW. The technical senses show a parallel transition from the heating bath of chemistry to the merely steeping or washing bath of photography.]
I. The action of bathing; the state of being bathed.
1. The action of bathing or immersing the body, or a part of it, in water or other liquid. (Used playfully of accidental or involuntary immersion.)
Preceded by words indicating differences in the mode of application, or the part of the body subjected to it: thus, douche-, hip-, plunge-, shower-, sitz-, sponge-bath. Phrase, to take a bath.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 244. Bæþ him eʓleð swiðost æfter mete.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xxiv. (1495), 74. A bathe in cold water.
1711. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn., Pref. A Warm Bath is … suppos’d … to be only a kind of a last Resort.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxxvi. He had imprudently taken a bath at too high a temperature.
1851. Kingsley, Yeast, iv. 75. Well, my man … how are you after your cold-bath? You are the heaviest fish I ever landed.
Mod. The dripping trees gave us a gratuitous shower-bath.
† 2. The immersion or washing of baptism. Obs.
c. 885. K. Ælfred, Oros., VI. xxxiv. § 4. Hu hi hine bædan rihtes ʓeleafan, and fullwihtes bæþes.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 23. Al swa clenliche swa crist ha þe bitahte on þas fulhtes beðe.
c. 1200. Ormin, 18044. Þurrh shriffte & þurrh dædbotess baþþ, & ec þurrh beȝȝske tæress.
3. By extension: The action of immersing the body in, or surrounding it with, any medium, such as vapor, hot air, mud, to produce effects analogous to those of bathing.
1771. J. S., Le Dran’s Observ. Surg., 294. The last Remedy he used was dry Baths … performed with Spirit of Wine.
4. The state of being suffused with a liquid, as perspiration.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. v. 120. And in the height of this Bath … to be throwne into the Thames.
1714. Mandeville, Fab. Bees (1725), I. 271. His head all over in a bath of sweat.
1783. Ainsworth, Lat. Dict. (Morell), 1. To be all in a bath, sudore diffluere.
5. fig. Bath of blood: carnage (Ger. blutbad.)
1882. Farrar, Early Chr., II. 207. Once more began the bath of blood for the hapless race.
II. The liquid or element in which one bathes.
6. A quantity of water or other liquid prepared for bathing.
Preceded by attrib. words indicating differences in the nature or temperature of the liquid used: thus, hot, warm, tepid, cold, salt, fresh-water bath.
c. 885. K. Ælfred, Bæda, IV. xix. On hátum baðum.
c. 1000. Cynewulf, Juliana (Grein), 581. Bæþ háte wéoll.
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 218. His baþ scal bon wallinde [v.r. in E. E. P., 29 His beað scal beo wallinde pich].
1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 7481. A bathe of water, nouther hate ne cald.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., i. 2. Be nakid, and go into a baþ þat I shalle make for the.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 135. To some … ye hote forneys of fyre hath ben moche pleasaunt, as a temperate bathe.
1607. Shaks., Cor., I. vi. 63. Conducted to a gentle Bath, And Balms applyed to you.
1647. W. Browne, Polex., II. 263. They put him into a bathe of fresh water.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 80, ¶ 5. To rise the next Morning and plunge into the Cold Bath.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., xviii. 227. Countess, your bath is ready.
† 7. The water of baptism. Obs.
971. Blickl. Hom., 27. Þe he of þam fulwihtes bæþe eode.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 396. Þreo beðes he greiðede to his deore leofmon uorto wasshen hire in ham … Þet erest beð is fuluht.
1548. Cranmer, Catech., 212. The water of Baptisme, which Paule calleth the bathe of regeneration.
† 8. A spring of water (chiefly hot or impregnated with minerals) suitable for bathing. Obs.
864. Cod. Dipl., 290. Æt þam hátum baðum.
1297. R. Glouc., 7. Þat water of Baþe … þat euer ys yliche hot … Suche baþes þer beþ fele in þe clos & in þe stret.
c. 1400. Maundev., viii. 88. In that Bathr was wont to come Watre fro Paradys.
1519. Four Elem., in Hazl., Dodsl., I. 6. The cause of the baths of water in the earth, which be perpetually hot.
1605. Camden, Rem., 1. That I may say nothing of healthfull Bathes.
a. 1711. Ken, Prayers for Baths, Wks. (1838), 449. Look on the bath, as a very admirable and propitious work of Divine Providence.
9. Any particular liquid or mixture of liquids applied to the body to produce a certain remedial effect; a wash or lotion wherewith to bathe the whole or any part of the body, or to immerse animals, or objects of any kind, in order to expose them to its effects. Cf. 16, 17.
1542–3. Act 34–5 Hen. VIII., viii. § 3. To … minister … to anie outwarde sore … herbes, oyntmentes, bathes, pultes and emplasters.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 295. To bath his legs with this bath.
1610. Markham, Masterp., II. lxxxii. Make a bathe or pultus thereof, and lay it to the sicke member.
Mod. One of the best baths for sheep now in use.
10. fig. and transf. Any enveloping or surrounding medium, producing effects analogous to those of bathing.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s T., 397. His herte bathid in a bath of blisse.
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. ii. 38. Sleepe … The death of each dayes Life, sore Labors Bath.
1871. Smiles, Charac., iii. (1876), 73. Enjoying a bath of sunshine.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, II. v. 84. Bath of dazzling Day, Take these spent limbs, revive the old Titan blood.
III. A receptacle, apartment, or place for bathing.
11. A vessel or receptacle intended to contain water for the purpose of bathing (Cf. 17.)
1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 86. Season the slaues for Tubbes and Bathes.
1635. R. Bolton, Comf. Affl. Consc., i. 355. It is nothing to swimme in a warme Bath.
1790. Cowper, Odyss., XVII. 104. And plung’d his feet into a polish’d bath.
Mod. Baths for sale or hire. To run the water out of the bath.
12. An apartment arranged for bathing, or a building containing a series of such apartments; (the latter usually pl.).
1591. Spenser, Ruines Rome, xxvii. These wals, these arcks, these baths, these temples hie.
1636. Healey, Epictetus’ Man., xxxi. 39. You cannot builde it a schoole, an Exchange, or a Bathe.
1757. Burke, Abridgm. Eng. Hist., Wks. X. 218. A fondness for baths, for gardens, for grand houses.
1844. Mem. Babylonian P’cess, II. 30. At the principal bath in Beyroot.
1879. Boy’s Own P., 118/2. The Autumn swimming fête was held at the Lambeth Baths.
13. A place for undergoing medical treatment by bathing and similar remedial agencies; a town resorted to for the sake of such treatment, e.g., Matlock Bath. Usually in pl. Cf. BATH2 1.
1562. Turner, Baths, 1. Of the bathe of Baeth … The bath of England is … in a city called in Latin Bathonia, and Baeth in Englishe, of the bathes yt are in it.
1572. J. Jones (title), The Bathes of Bathes Ayde.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, III. x. 487. At liberty to go as far as the Frontier to the Baths at Banieres.
1739. J. Huxham, Ess. Fevers, iii. (1750), 30. Sent him to use the Waters at the Bath.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 27. His wife a faded beauty of the Baths.
IV. Transferred uses in science and the arts.
† 14. (St.) Mary’s Bath in Alch., etc.: see BAIN MARIE. Obs.
c. 1470. Bk. Quintessence, 13. Putte by .vij. daies to encorpere wel as tofore in þe bath of marien.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., II. i. F. is come over the helm too, I thank my maker, in S. Mary’s bath.
1632. Sherwood, Maries Bath, Bain de Marie.
15. Chem. (See quot. 1846.)
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physic, 54. Bath it 3 dayes after other, euery day in a water bath.
1709. G. Wilson, Chym., Expl. 3rd Table, The Sand Bath of the digesting Furnace. Ibid., 8th Table, The moist Bath of the Athanor.
1846. G. Wright, Cream Sci. Knowl., 37. Bath in Chemistry, is a contrivance for producing a steady heat at high temperature, or at a temperature not exceeding that of boiling water. In the former, the substance to be heated is placed in a vessel immersed in sand, and this is called a sand bath; in the latter water is employed instead, and this is called a water-bath, or balneum Mariæ.
16. Dyeing, A preparation of coloring liquid in which the dyer immerses his cloth, etc.
1791. Hamilton, Berthollet’s Dyeing, I. I. I. i. 19. Each of them he dyed separately in a cochineal bath.
17. Photography, A solution in which photographic plates or prints are immersed, for the purposes of ‘sensitizing,’ fixing, toning, washing, etc.; the vessel in which the solution is contained.
1861. Photogr. News Alm., in Circ. Sc., 160/1. A thirty-five grain nitrate bath … is the best sensitising solution.
c. 1865. J. Wylde, in Circ. Sc., I. 148/2. The choice of a ‘bath’ … for rendering a coated plate sensitive, has been a subject of great discussion amongst photographers.
1869. Eng. Mech., 17 Dec., 335/1. It varies with the strength of the albumenising … bath.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., II. 65/2. For the sensitising of the plate, a glass or porcelain trough will be required…. When a glass bath is used, a wooden casing will be supplied with it.
1882. Abney, Instr. Photogr., 109. The ordinary negative bath is used.
18. Metallurgy, ‘A mass of molten material in a furnace.’ Raymond, Mining Gloss., 1881.
V. An order of knighthood.
19. Order of the Bath: a high order of British knighthood. (So called from the bath which preceded installation.)
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks, Ep. Ded. My most especial good friend Sir Peter Manwood Knight of the Bath.
1614. Selden, Titles Hon., 359. Those of the BATH were anciently mongst the old Franks. [See the whole passage.]
1747. Lind, Lett. Navy (1757), I. 45. To wear … a star as the knights of the Bath do.
1835. Penny Cycl., IV. 24/2. The re-modelling of the Order of the Bath was dated January 2, 1815.
b. Short for: Bath King of Arms, the herald or marshal of the order.
1725. Lond. Gaz., No. 6382/4. Bath King of Arms then made his Reverences. Bath then delivered the Collar of the Order.
VI. Attrib. and Comb., as bath-cloth, † bath-fat (= BATH 11), bath-house, -keeper, -room, -stove, -towel, -tub; bath-loving adj., etc.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), II. 267. The third sonne, Johne Stewart, was … slane in the Cannongait, in ane baith fatt.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Bañador, a bathe keeper.
1591. G. Fletcher, Russe Commw. (1836), 147. Made lyke the Germane bathstoaves.
1618. R. Holyday, Juvenal, 42. They fold the bath-cloaths.
1705. Lond. Gaz., No. 4139/7. The Bath House at Buxton.
1780. Coxe, Russ. Disc., 99. An empty Russian dwelling, and near it a bath-room, in which they found, to their inexpressible terror, twenty dead bodies in their clothes.
1882. H. Lansdell, Siberia, I. 192. Out-houses, such as kitchen-house and bath-house.
1884. Century Mag., Dec., 266/2. English earthenware bath-tubs.
