Literary notes about basal (AI summary)
The word “basal” is used to denote something that lies at or near the base of a structure or system, serving as a foundation from which other parts extend. In zoological and botanical texts, it frequently identifies the lowest or innermost section of an organism—for instance, referring to portions of feathers, tails, or leaves that are closest to the body or stem [1, 2, 3]. In physiological and anatomical contexts, “basal” describes underlying functions or structures, such as the basal metabolic rate and the basal segments of limbs or organs [4, 5]. Moreover, the term can even embrace abstract applications, as when it designates fundamental concepts or elements within philosophical arguments [6, 7].
- Upper and under tail-coverts more brownish than the rump, the basal portion white.
— from A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 3 of 3 by Robert Ridgway - Leaves all basal, tubular; flowers on leafless stalks (aquatic, 1-4 dm.
— from The Plants of Michigan Simple Keys for the Identification of the Native Seed Plants of the State by Henry A. (Henry Allan) Gleason - The basal leaves are long petioled but the stem ones are sessile and opposite, shallow-toothed.
— from Flower Guide: Wild Flowers East of the Rockies (Revised and with New Illustrations) by Chester A. (Chester Albert) Reed - It has been found by DuBois that the basal metabolism [27] in boys of twelve is 25 per cent.
— from Food in War Time by Graham Lusk - The reflexes, on this view, upon which the education of our human hemispheres depends, would not be due to the basal ganglia
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - [Pg 144] that ultimately became basal in the philosophy of Kant).
— from An Introduction to the History of Science by Walter Libby - [Pg 135] that the teacher should recognize that certain definitions are basal, while others are merely informational.
— from The Teaching of Geometry by David Eugene Smith
