Basking

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To recline in a sunny spot or cozy area, often enjoying a serene moment; to delight in feelings of contentment and satisfaction from life’s pleasures; to soak up warmth or attention from achievements and positive experiences
2. Positioning oneself in the sun or near a heat source to absorb warmth ; taking pleasure in the admiration or focus received from others
3. Relaxing where warmth is abundant, such as sunlight or a heated place ; thriving on the favorable regard or notice given by people

Etymology: Long before it meant lounging in the sun, "bask" meant taking a bath. Its ancestor in Old Norse was "baðask," literally "to bathe oneself," built from "baða" ("to bathe") and "sik" ("oneself"). Middle English borrowed it as "basken," and the sense of bathing gradually narrowed and warmed into soaking up heat and light instead of water. That shift explains the figurative use too. Someone basking in praise is still immersed in something pleasant that surrounds them, much as a bather is immersed in water. The word is a doublet of "bathe," meaning the two came into English by different routes from the same Germanic root, so they split into distinct words that have kept a family resemblance.

Synonyms: reveling, enjoying, savoring

Antonyms: suffering, enduring