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basin

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The definition of a shallow container which will hold liquids such as water, or a shallow, bowl-shapped depression on land filled with water, or when rock layers all tilt away from a center area.

(noun)

An example of a basin is a container in which laundry can be handwashed.
An example of a basin is the Amazon Basin where the Amazon River and all its branches and tributaries drain.
An example of a basin isthe Nashville Basin in Tennessee where all of the rock strata angle down and away from Nashville.

See basin in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a round, wide, shallow container, as for holding water to wash in
its contents or capacity
a washbowl or sink
any shallow, rounded hollow or depression, often containing water, as a pond
a bay or harbor: yacht basin
all the land drained by a river and its branches
a great hollow in the earth's surface filled by an ocean
Geol. a wide, depressed area in which the rock layers all incline toward a central area

Origin: ME & OFr bacin < VL *baccinum < *bacca, water vessel

See basin in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

a. An open, shallow, usually round container used especially for holding liquids.
b. The amount that such a vessel can hold.
A washbowl; a sink.
a. An artificially enclosed area of a river or harbor designed so that the water level remains unaffected by tidal changes.
b. A small enclosed or partly enclosed body of water.
A region drained by a single river system: the Amazon basin.
Geology
a. A broad tract of land in which the rock strata are tilted toward a common center.
b. A large, bowl-shaped depression in the surface of the land or ocean floor.