bait

See also: bàit

English

Pronunciation

  • Audio (US)(file)
  • IPA(key): /beɪt/
  • Rhymes: -eɪt

Etymology 1

From Middle English bait, beite, from Old Norse beita (“food, bait”), from Proto-Germanic *baitō (“that which is bitten, bait”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to cleave, split, separate”). Cognate with German Beize (“mordant, corrosive fluid; marinade; hunting”), Old English bāt (“that which can be bitten, food, bait”). Related to bite.

Noun

bait (countable and uncountable, plural baits)

  1. Any substance, especially food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, trap, or net.
  2. Food containing poison or a harmful additive to kill animals that are pests.
  3. Anything which allures; something used to lure or entice someone or something into doing something
    • 2017 June 7, Adam Lusher, “Adnan Khashoggi: the 'whoremonger' whose arms deals funded a playboy life of decadence and 'pleasure wives'”, in The Independent‎, London:
      One of the “girls” used in this way, Pamella Bordes, later spoke of being “part of an enormous group … used as sexual bait.”
  4. A portion of food or drink, as a refreshment taken on a journey; also, a stop for rest and refreshment.
    • 1818, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, chapter 20 page 70
      The tediousness of a two hours' bait at Petty-France, in which there was nothing to be done but to eat without being hungry, and loiter about without any thing to see, next followed[…]
    1. (Geordie) A packed lunch
    2. (East Anglia) A small meal taken mid-morning while farming
    3. (Northern England) A miner's packed meal.
  5. A light or hasty luncheon.
Derived terms
Translations
References
  • Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin,
  • The New Geordie Dictionary, Frank Graham, 1987, →ISBN
  • Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
  • Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977
  • A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, →ISBN

Verb

bait (third-person singular simple present baits, present participle baiting, simple past and past participle baited)

  1. (transitive) To attract with bait; to entice.
  2. (transitive) To affix bait to a trap or a fishing hook or fishing line.
    • Washington Irving
      a crooked pin […] bailed with a vile earthworm

Translations

Usage notes
  • This verb is sometimes confused in writing with the rare verb bate, which is pronounced identically; in particular, the expression with bated breath is frequently misspelled *with baited breath by writers unfamiliar with the verb bate.

Etymology 2

From Middle English baiten, beiten, from Old Norse beita (“to bait, cause to bite, feed, hunt”), from Proto-Germanic *baitijaną (“to cause to bite, bridle”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to cleave, split, separate”). Cognate with Icelandic beita (“to bait”), Swedish beta (“to bait, pasture, graze”), German beizen (“to cause to bite, bait”), Old English bǣtan (“to bait, hunt, bridle, bit”).

Verb

bait (third-person singular simple present baits, present participle baiting, simple past and past participle baited)

  1. (transitive) To set dogs on (an animal etc.) to bite or worry; to attack with dogs, especially for sport.
    to bait a bear with dogs;  to bait a bull
  2. (transitive) To intentionally annoy, torment, or threaten by constant rebukes or threats; to harass.
  3. (transitive, now rare) To feed and water (a horse or other animal), especially during a journey.
    • 1485 July 31, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London: William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur, London: Published by David Nutt, in the Strand, 1889, OCLC 890162034:
      , Bk.V, Ch.ix:
      And than they com into a lowe medow that was full of swete floures, and there thes noble knyghtes bayted her horses.
  4. (intransitive) (of a horse or other animal) To take food, especially during a journey.
    • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, […], printed at London: […] Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
      , II.22:
      King Cyrus, that he might more speedily receave news from al parts of his Empire (which was of exceeding great length), would needs have it tried how far a horse could in a day goe outright without baiting, at which distance he caused stations to be set up, and men to have fresh horses ready for al such as came to him.
  5. (intransitive) (of a person) To stop to take a portion of food and drink for refreshment during a journey.
    • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, in Paradise Regain’d, to which is added Samson Agonistes, London: John Starkey, p. 89, line 539,
      For evil news rides post, while good news baits.
    • 1677, John Evelyn, Diary entry for 13 September, 1677, in Memoirs of John Evelyn, London: Henry Colburn, 1827, Volume 2, p. 433,
      My Lord’s coach convey’d me to Bury, and thence baiting at Newmarket, stepping in at Audley End to see that house againe, I slept at Bishops Strotford, and the next day home.
    • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 62,
      At Break of Day we arose, and after a short Repast march’d on till Noon, when we baited among some shady Trees near a Pond of Water […]
See also

Etymology 3

French battre de l'aile or des ailes, to flap or flutter.

Verb

bait (third-person singular simple present baits, present participle baiting, simple past and past participle baited)

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To flap the wings; to flutter as if to fly; or to hover, as a hawk when she stoops to her prey.
    • Shakespeare
      Kites that bait and beat.

Anagrams

Malay

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Arabic بَيْت‎ (bayt), from Proto-Semitic *bayt-.

Pronunciation

Noun

bait (Jawi spelling بيت)

  1. house (abode)
  2. home (house or structure in which someone lives)

Welsh

Alternative forms

Verb

bait

  1. (literary) second-person singular imperfect subjunctive of bod

Synonyms

  • byddit
  • byddet

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radicalsoftnasalaspirate
bait fait mait unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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