Past tense of baste; moistened meat with cooking liquid, or sewed with loose temporary stitches.
From baste, of unknown origin, possibly from Old Norse or Old French. The cooking and sewing senses developed separately but converge in meaning around the idea of applying something in a loose, temporary way.
Basting in cooking probably got its name from basting in sewing—both involve applying something lightly and repeatedly—showing how humans find connections between different physical actions.
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