Bath

Bath is a city in north east Somerset. It was founded during the Roman invasion of Britain as the garrison town guarding the crossing point of the fosseway and the river Avon.

The Romans during their occupation built a collection bath houses fed by the local hot spring (I think it is the only hot spring in England if not Britain), to do this the Romans had to knock down the temple of the local tribe's god which was already on the spring site.

The Romans being a superstious lot named the town after the local god and dedicated the baths to him giving rise to Bath's Roman name Aquae Sulis (Sulis's Water).

Since then Bath has been a tourist resort originally people went there to bathe (hence the modern name) but now they go there for the Architecture and the history.

The Bath has been declared a world heritage site due to the beauty and scale of the city's architecture (Pseudo Classical style where the city blocks are designed to look like mansions) which appeared during the Georgian era when King George made the city the place to go during the Summer Season.

• Baths were reputedly invented by King Minos of Crete. Minos built a huge bath and had clay pipes made to transport water to the tub.
• The Greeks took short, cold baths after exercising (their bathhouses were next to the gymnasium). The Romans on the other hand, took long, hot baths in which they would talk to others. They took baths in seawater. This is the order of a Roaman bath:
  1. The bather would exercise a bit to work up a sweat.
  2. The bather would enter the second room, and be rubbed with oils by slaves.
  3. Then he would enter a hotter room, where he would relax in hot water and sweat some more.
  4. He would then enter a very hot room, in which a slave would pour cold water over him.
  5. Finally he would jump into an ice-cold bath.

  The average Roman consumed about 300 gallons per bath.

• In Europe, after the fall of the Roman Empire, baths were banned intil 1095, when Pope Gregory allowed them again. However, for much of tge Middle Ages, people masked their dirtiness by wearing perfumes. Hand washing was important because many people ate with their hands.
• Public bath houses were built in London in the late 19th Century. It was around this time that people began to realise that baths helped prevent disease. Public laundries were built next door so people could use leftover water to wash their clothes.
• Average Americans spend 11 minutes in a shower and 20 minutes in a bath.

Bath (?), n.; pl. Baths (#). [AS. bae; akin to OS. & Icel. ba, Sw., Dan., D., & G. bad, and perh. to G. bahen to foment.]

1.

The act of exposing the body, or part of the body, for purposes of cleanliness, comfort, health, etc., to water, vapor, hot air, or the like; as, a cold or a hot bath; a medicated bath; a steam bath; a hip bath.

2.

Water or other liquid for bathing.

3.

A receptacle or place where persons may immerse or wash their bodies in water.

4.

A building containing an apartment or a series of apartments arranged for bathing.

Among the ancients, the public baths were of amazing extent and magnificence. Gwilt.

5. Chem.

A medium, as heated sand, ashes, steam, hot air, through which heat is applied to a body.

6. Photog.

A solution in which plates or prints are immersed; also, the receptacle holding the solution.

⇒ Bath is used adjectively or in combination, in an obvious sense of or for baths or bathing; as, bathroom, bath tub, bath keeper.

Douche bath. See Douche. -- Order of the Bath, a high order of British knighthood, composed of three classes, viz., knights grand cross, knights commanders, and knights companions, abbreviated thus: G. C. B., K. C. B., K. B. -- Russian bath, a kind of vapor bath which consists in a prolonged exposure of the body to the influence of the steam of water, followed by washings and shampooings. -- Turkish bath, a kind of bath in which a profuse perspiration is produced by hot air, after which the body is washed and shampooed. -- Bath house, a house used for the purpose of bathing; -- also a small house, near a bathing place, where a bather undresses and dresses.

© Webster 1913.

Bath (?), n. [Heb.]

A Hebrew measure containing the tenth of a homer, or five gallons and three pints, as a measure for liquids; and two pecks and five quarts, as a dry measure.

© Webster 1913.

Bath (?), n.

A city in the west of England, resorted to for its hot springs, which has given its name to various objects.

Bath brick, a preparation of calcareous earth, in the form of a brick, used for cleaning knives, polished metal, etc. -- Bath chair, a kind of chair on wheels, as used by invalids at Bath. "People walked out, or drove out, or were pushed out in their Bath chairs." Dickens. -- Bath metal, an alloy consisting of four and a half ounces of zinc and one pound of copper. -- Bath note, a folded writing paper, 8 1/2 by 14 inches. -- Bath stone, a species of limestone (oolite) found near Bath, used for building.

© Webster 1913.