Lying in warmth and light, especially sunshine, to enjoy the feeling; or enjoying glory or praise.
From Middle English 'baske,' of Scandinavian origin (related to Old Norse 'badask,' to bathe). Originally meant to soak or bathe. The metaphorical sense of enjoying praise developed naturally from the physical comfort of basking in sunlight.
When sharks and reptiles are 'basking,' they're actually thermoregulating—using sunlight to warm their cold-blooded bodies to optimal temperature for hunting! So when politicians are 'basking in glory,' there's a fun biological parallel: they're metaphorically warming themselves.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.