Basin

Ba·sin

Basin

n.
  1. A hollow vessel or dish, to hold water for washing, and for various other uses.
  2. The quantity contained in a basin.
  3. 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.
  4. A hollow place containing water, as a pond, a dock for ships, a little bay.
  5. 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. (Physical Geog.)
  6. 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. (Geol.)