Past tense of basset: made a mining attempt by digging through surface rock to reach an ore vein below, or (in breeding) mated a horse with a larger animal to produce stronger offspring.
From French 'basset,' meaning 'low' or 'beneath,' combined with the -ed suffix for past tense. The mining term emerged from French geological terminology in the 19th century, referring to the practice of mining from below upward.
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