Definition

to depress literally or figuratively, transitive or intransitive (in various applications, as follows)

Etymology

a primitive root (possibly rather identical with H6030 (עָנָה) through the idea of looking down or browbeating);

Where the KJV renders it

• abase self
• afflict(-ion
• self)
• answer (by mistake for H6030 (עָנָה))
• chasten self
• deal hardly with
• defile
• exercise
• force
• gentleness
• humble (self)
• hurt
• ravish
• sing (by mistake for H6030 (עָנָה))
• speak (by mistake for H6030 (עָנָה))
• submit self
• weaken
• in any wise

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.