The Collaborative International Dictionary
Basin \Ba"sin\, n. [OF. bacin, F. bassin, LL. bacchinus, fr. bacca a water vessel, fr. L. bacca berry, in allusion to the round shape; or perh. fr. Celtic. Cf. Bac.]
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.
--Pope-
(Physical Geog.)
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.
(Geol.) 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.
Usage examples of "coal fields".
Could he have truly put the dispute over the Wankie coal fields out of his mind, as though it had never happened?
When whistled, Pluto stands and lies down in the middle of the coal fields.
Fuel conversion was driven by both deforestation, and the opening of large new coal fields.
He learned of his father's general dealer stores, and the butcheries and bakeries in all the black townships spread throughout the great industrial triangle of the Transvaal that was based on the gold-mines and the iron-deposits and the coal fields.
As far as geography went, it was all part of the Appalachian highlands, all part of the great coal fields.
The Antarctic coal fields, the battles between our fishing fleets last summer .
We'll never be right in this district until Chester Wilcox has been settled, and you'll have the thanks of every lodge in the coal fields if you can down him.