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Abask — As If Basking in the Sun
My new word of the week is abask.
What Does it Mean?
Abask is a simple word that makes me smile because it reminds me of Spring and Summer. It means to bask. As in basking in the sunshine. It makes me think of early mornings as the sun bathes my face in its warmth.
Example:
The retriever lay abask in the sun as the early morning light glistened on his golden fur.
A Linguistic Time Line
Words in English fall out of favor from time to time and land in the abyss of forgotten words. Their meaning is lost but that doesn’t mean they can’t be revived. When I looked this word up online at Merriam-Webster, it told me that the word isn’t entered into the dictionary. However, when I typed in the word ‘bask’ it did pop up.
1870–1874 — It’s used infrequently and then tapers off until 1897 when it became very popular.
1897–1947 — It’s used often in English until it practically disappears in the early 2000’s
The modern version of bask is the only version now used.
Etymology of Abask
Bask and abask have the same definition. It was really difficult to find much historical information about…
