Etymology Dictionary

BASTE (1),  vb., to beat, strike.  (Scand.)   We find 'basting and bear-baiting;' Hudibras, pt. ii. c. 1 (R.)—Icel. beysta (also beyrsta), to beat. + Swed. bösta, to thump; cf. O. Swed. basa, to strike (Ihre).   β. Of obscure origin.   Fick connects Icel. beysta with Icel. bauta and E. beat; but this is uncertain.   See Box (3).

BASTE (2),  to pour fat over meat.  (Unknown.)   It occurs in Gammer Gurton's Needle, i. 1; and in Shak., Com. Errors, ii. 2. 59.   'To baste, linire;' Levins, 36. 22.   Origin unknown.   Some connect it with baste, to beat, as if basting was done with a piece of stick.

BASTE (3),  to sew slightly.  (F.,—O.H.G.)   M.E. basten, bastyn; Prompt. Parv. p. 26; Rom. of the Rose, l. 104.—O.F. bastir, to put together, form; also, to build (F. bâtir).—M.H.G. bestan, to bind.—O.H.G. bast, the inner bark of the lime-tree.   So also Dan. baste, to tie, to bind with bast, to pinion; from Dan. bast, bast.   See Bast.