• Bite

    Pronunciation

    • US enPR: bÄ«t, IPA: /baɪt/
    • Rhymes: -aɪt
    • CA IPA: /bÊŒit/
    • Rhymes: -ÊŒit
    • Homophones: bight, byte

    Origin

    From Middle English biten, from Old English bītan, from Proto-Germanic *bītaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- ("to split"). Cognates include West Frisian bite, Low German bieten, Dutch bijten, Swedish bita, German beißen, Danish bide, Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽, and through Indo-European, Ancient Greek φείδομαι, Sanskrit भिद् (bhid, "to break"), Latin findo ("split").

    Full definition of bite

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To cut off a piece by clamping the teeth.As soon as you bite that sandwich, you'll know how good it is.
    2. (transitive) To hold something by clamping one's teeth.
    3. (intransitive) To attack with the teeth.That dog is about to bite!
    4. (intransitive) To behave aggressively; to reject advances.If you see me, come and say hello. I don't bite.
    5. (intransitive) To take hold; to establish firm contact with.I needed snow chains to make the tires bite.
    6. (intransitive) To have significant effect, often negative.For homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages, rising interest will really bite.
    7. (intransitive, of a fish) To bite a baited hook or other lure and thus be caught.Are the fish biting today?
    8. (intransitive, metaphor) To accept something offered, often secretly or deceptively, to cause some action by the acceptor.I've planted the story. Do you think they'll bite?
    9. (intransitive, transitive, of an insect) To sting.These mosquitoes are really biting today!
    10. (intransitive) To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent.It bites like pepper or mustard.
    11. (transitive) To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense.Pepper bites the mouth.
      • ShakespeareFrosts do bite the meads.
    12. (intransitive) To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.
      • Bible, Proverbs xxiii. 32At the last it wine biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
    13. (intransitive) To take or keep a firm hold.The anchor bites.
    14. (transitive) To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to.The anchor bites the ground.
      • Charles DickensThe last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, ... it turned and turned with nothing to bite.
    15. (intransitive, slang) To lack quality; to be worthy of derision; to suck.This music really bites.
    16. (transitive, informal, vulgar) To perform oral sex on. Used in invective.You don't like that I sat on your car? Bite me.
    17. (intransitive, AAVE, slang) To plagiarize, to imitate.He always be biting my moves.

    Noun

    bite

    (plural bites)
    1. The act of biting.
      • WaltonI have known a very good fisher angle diligently four or six hours for a river carp, and not have a bite.
    2. The wound left behind after having been bitten.That snake bite really hurts!
    3. The swelling of one's skin caused by an insect's mouthparts or sting.After just one night in the jungle I was covered with mosquito bites.
    4. A piece of food of a size that would be produced by biting; a mouthful.There were only a few bites left on the plate.
    5. (slang) Something unpleasant.That's really a bite!
    6. (slang) An act of plagiarism.That song is a bite of my song!
    7. A small meal or snack.I'll have a quick bite to quiet my stomach until dinner.
    8. (figuratively) aggression
      • 2011, March 2, Saj Chowdhury, Man City 3 - 0 Aston Villa, City scored the goals but periods of ball possession were shared - the difference being Villa lacked bite in the opposition final third.
    9. The hold which the short end of a lever has upon the thing to be lifted, or the hold which one part of a machine has upon another.
    10. (colloquial, dated) A cheat; a trick; a fraud.
      • HumoristThe baser methods of getting money by fraud and bite, by deceiving and overreaching.
    11. (colloquial, dated, slang) A sharper; one who cheats.
    12. (printing) A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.

    Synonyms

    • (act of biting)
    • (wound left behind after having been bitten)
    • (swelling caused by an insect's mouthparts or sting) sting
    • (piece of food of a size that would be produced by biting) mouthful
    • (slang: something unpleasant)
    • (slang: act of plagiarism)
    • (small meal or snack) snack
    • (figuratively: aggression)

    Derived terms

    This section is for terms derived from the NOUN senses.Terms derived from the VERB senses go in the Derived terms section under the Verb section.

    Related terms

    terms related to "bite"

    Anagrams

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