basset

BAS'SET, n. A game at cards, said to have been invented at Venice, by a nobleman, who was banished for the invention. The game being introduced into France by the Venetian embassador, Justiniani, in 1674, it was prohibited by severe edicts.

BAS'SET, v.i. [See Basil.] Among coal diggers, to incline upwards. Thus a vein of coal bassets, when it takes a direction towards the surface of the earth. This is called cropping, and is opposed to dipping.