basket

noun

1. a container made of twigs, rushes, thin strips of wood, or other flexible material woven together.
2. a container made of pieces of thin veneer, used for packing berries, vegetables, etc.
3. the amount contained in a basket; a basketful: to pick a basket of apples.
4. anything like a basket in shape or use: He never empties my wastepaper basket.
5. any group of things or different things grouped as a unit; a package; package deal: You can’t buy the single stock; you have to take the basket—all companies, stocks and bonds.
6. the car or gondola suspended beneath a balloon, as for carrying passengers or scientific instruments into the atmosphere.
7. Basketball.
   1. an open net suspended from a metal rim attached to the backboard and through which the ball must pass in order for a player to score points.
   2. a score, counting two for a field goal and one for a free throw.
8. Also called snow ring. Skiing. a ring strapped to the base of a ski pole to limit penetration of the pole in the snow.
9. Slang: Vulgar. the male genitals, especially when outlined by a tight-fitting garment.

noun

1. a container made of interwoven strips of pliable materials, such as cane, straw, thin wood, or plastic, and often carried by means of a handle or handles
2. Also called: basketful the amount a basket will hold
3. something resembling such a container in appearance or function, such as the structure suspended from a balloon
4. basketball
   1. an open horizontal metal hoop fixed to the backboard, through which a player must throw the ball to score points
   2. a point or points scored in this way
5. a group or collection of similar of related thingsa basket of currencies
6. informal a euphemism for bastard (def. 1) offensive, bastard (def. 2)
7. the list of items an internet shopper chooses to buy at one time from a websiteadd these items to your basket

n.

early 13c., from Anglo-French bascat, origin obscure despite much speculation. On one theory from Latin bascauda “kettle, table-vessel,” said by the Roman poet Martial to be from Celtic British and perhaps cognate with Latin fascis “bundle, faggot,” in which case it probably originally meant “wicker basket.” But OED frowns on this, and there is no evidence of such a word in Celtic unless later words in Irish and Welsh, counted as borrowings from English, are original.

In addition to the idiom beginning with basket

• basket case

also see:

• put all one’s eggs in one basket