βασμός

A. step, threshold, LXX IKi. 5.5, [S.]Fr. 1127; degree on the dial, LXX 4 Ki. 20.9 sq.; fifteen degrees of the zodiac, Vett.Val. 31.2; interval in a musical scale, Iamb. VP 26.120.

2. rung of a ladder, Luc. Trag. 221.

3. base or plinth of a tower, GDI 5524.10 (Cyzicus).

II. metaph., step, degree in rank (οἱ β. κλίμακος προκοπὴν σημαίνουσι Artem. 2.42), 1 Ep.Ti. 3.13, Procop. Arc. 24, Lyd. Mag. 2.8, al.; οἱ τᾶς ἀξίας βάσμοι IG 12(2).243.16 (Mytil.); simply, degree, τολμημάτων βαθμοί J. BJ 4.3.10; ὥσπερ ἡδονῆς κλίμακα συμπηξάμενος ἔρως πρῶτον ἔχει β. ὄψεως Luc. Am. 53; step in an argument, Simp. in Cael. 718.35; of a genealogy, ἀπωτέρω δυοῖν β. two steps farther back, i.e. farther back than one's grandfather, D.Chr. 41.6.

III. tax paid on stairs, POxy. 574 (ii A. D.): acc. to Phryn. 296, Moer. 97, βαθμός is Ion., βασμός Att., but βασμός occurs GDI 5524.10 (Cyzic.), Jahresh. 3.55 (Scepsis).