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English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Bait   /beɪt/   Listen
noun
Bait  n.  
1.
Any substance, esp. food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, inclosure, or net.
2.
Anything which allures; a lure; enticement; temptation.
3.
A portion of food or drink, as a refreshment taken on a journey; also, a stop for rest and refreshment.
4.
A light or hasty luncheon.
Bait bug (Zool.), a crustacean of the genus Hippa found burrowing in sandy beaches. See Anomura.


verb
Bait  v. t.  (past & past part. baited; pres. part. baiting)  
1.
To provoke and harass; esp., to harass or torment for sport; as, to bait a bear with dogs; to bait a bull.
2.
To give a portion of food and drink to, upon the road; as, to bait horses.
3.
To furnish or cover with bait, as a trap or hook. "A crooked pin... baited with a vile earthworm."


Bait  v. i.  To stop to take a portion of food and drink for refreshment of one's self or one's beasts, on a journey. "Evil news rides post, while good news baits." "My lord's coach conveyed me to Bury, and thence baiting at Newmarket."


Bait  v. i.  To flap the wings; to flutter as if to fly; or to hover, as a hawk when she stoops to her prey. "Kites that bait and beat."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Bait" Quotes from Famous Books



... "Two Queens make claim for you. The wolfish Catherine writes to England for her lost Camisard, with much fool's talk about 'dark figures,' and 'conspirators,' 'churls,' and foes of 'soft peace'; and England takes the bait and sends to Sir Hugh Pawlett yonder. And, in brief, Monsieur, the Governor is to have you under arrest and send you to England. God knows why two Queens make such a pother over a fellow with naught but a sword and a lass to love him—though, come to think, 'a man's a man if he ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... they entered the house, "A girl working in the office with a man has a magnificent chance at him. It's lucky for the men that women don't know their business, but are amateurs and too stuck on themselves to set and bait their traps properly. Is that girl trying to ...
— The Grain Of Dust - A Novel • David Graham Phillips
... his fishing-lines in a little skivet under the stern-sheets. But not a trace of bait had he on board. If he had, he was too much ...
— Wandering Heath • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... My uncle was awful to behold. His friends were evidently anxious about him. They thought he was ill. There was such a hesitation about him, like a shark with a bait, and such a flurry, like a whale in his last agonies. He had a horrible secret which he dared not tell, and which yet would come out of its ...
— Stephen Archer and Other Tales • George MacDonald
... ingeniously worded that its meaning might be twisted so as to make him a prisoner. He was informed of this treachery, and, as Mr. Froude remarks, 'Shane was too cunning a fish, and had been too lately in the meshes, to be caught again in so poor a snare.' A most attractive bait was provided by Sussex in the person of his sister, who had been brought over to Dublin, and who might be won by the great northern chief if he would only come up to the viceregal court to woo her. 'Shane glanced at the tempting morsel ...
— The Land-War In Ireland (1870) - A History For The Times • James Godkin


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