a hollow vessel or dish, to hold water for washing, and for various other uses.-the quantity contained in a basin.-a hollow vessel, of various forms and materials, used in the arts or manufactures, as that used by glass grinders for forming concave glasses, by hatters for molding a hat into shape, etc.-a hollow place containing water, as a pond, a dock for ships, a little bay.-a circular or oval valley, or depression of the surface of the ground, the lowest part of which is generally occupied by a lake, or traversed by a river.-the entire tract of country drained by a river, or sloping towards a sea or lake.-an isolated or circumscribed formation, particularly where the strata dip inward, on all sides, toward a center; -- especially applied to the coal formations, called coal basins or coal fields.