bait
Americannoun
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food, or some substitute, used as a lure in fishing, trapping, etc.
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a poisoned lure used in exterminating pests.
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an allurement; enticement.
Employees were lured with the bait of annual bonuses.
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an object for pulling molten or liquefied material, as glass, from a vat or the like by adhesion.
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South Midland and Southern U.S.
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a large or sufficient quantity or amount.
He fetched a good bait of wood.
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an excessive quantity or amount.
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British Slang. food.
verb (used with object)
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baits,
present (3rd person singular)
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baited,
past participle, past
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baiting
present participle
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to prepare (a hook or trap) with bait.
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to entice by deception or trickery so as to entrap or destroy.
using fake signal lights to bait the ships onto the rocks.
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to attract, tempt, or captivate.
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to set dogs upon (an animal) for sport.
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to worry, torment, or persecute, especially with malicious remarks.
a nasty habit of baiting defenseless subordinates.
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to tease.
They love to bait him about his gaudy ties.
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to feed and water (a horse or other animal), especially during a journey.
noun
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something edible, such as soft bread paste, worms, or pieces of meat, fixed to a hook or in a trap to attract fish or animals
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an enticement; temptation
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a variant spelling of bate 4
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dialect food, esp a packed lunch
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archaic a short stop for refreshment during a journey
verb
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(tr) to put a piece of food on or in (a hook or trap)
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(tr) to persecute or tease
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(tr) to entice; tempt
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(tr) to set dogs upon (a bear, etc)
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archaic (tr) to feed (a horse), esp during a break in a journey
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archaic (intr) to stop for rest and refreshment during a journey
verb
Usage
The phrase with bated breath is sometimes wrongly spelled with baited breath
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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baiternoun
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overbaitverb (used with object)
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rebaitverb (used with object)
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unbaitverb (used with object)
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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baitsimple
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baitssimple
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have baitedperfect
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has baitedperfect
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am baitingprogressive
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are baitingprogressive
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is baitingprogressive
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have been baitingperfect progressive
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has been baitingperfect progressive
Past
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baitedsimple
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had baitedperfect
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was baitingprogressive
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were baitingprogressive
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had been baitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bait
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English bait, beit (noun), baiten (verb), from Old Norse, probably reflecting both beita “to pasture, hunt, chase with dogs or hawks” (ultimately causative of bíta “to bite”) and beita “fish bait”; cf. bite, bate 3
Explanation
People who go fishing aren’t the only ones to use bait. When you hold a yard sale, place your best stuff closest to the sidewalk — to serve as bait. Bait can be anything from the worms that hide a hook to a stereo that tempts shoppers to stop and browse. Bait can also mean the act of getting someone or something to do what you want. For generations, students have baited their teachers into wasting class time with a question about a personal interest or obsession: “This talk about integers is very fascinating, Mr. Green, but what do you think about last night’s Penguins game?” Bait comes from the Old Norse, word beita — “to cause to bite.” Asking Mr. Green what other Viking words he knows might be interesting, and provide bait for his next off-topic musing.
Vocabulary lists containing bait
"Of Mice and Men"
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Messenger
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"Yet Do I Marvel" by Countee Cullen
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The men reportedly used pieces of fish as bait, placing traps outside houses where they knew cats were kept, state media reported.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
The experiments used small groups of termites under controlled conditions, and the researchers described the findings as support for developing bistrifluron further as a localized treatment or possible bait ingredient.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
Also known as grabblers or hand-fishermen, noodlers use their own bare limbs as bait to catch enormous flathead catfish lurking in Southern and Midwestern rivers, creeks, and lakes.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
In preparation, Angel City folks stopped feeding the cats on Friday so they’d take the bait.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
So I pry the lid off the bait bucket and cut up some herring and drop it over the side.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
Those liquids included insecticides, and some of the baits included rodenticide blocks, according to the lawsuit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
"I ended up in sewers, trying to hang poison baits to kill rats."
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025
And because "weird" can mean so many different things, it baits those who feel attacked into dumb definitional debates.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2024
The target predators often breed faster than they can be removed, catching the last few animals that avoid traps or baits is time-consuming and costly, and guarding against reinvasion is difficult, scientists say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2024
Some time before daylight something took one of the baits that were behind him.
From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway
Do you think he can resist being baited?
From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2026
A baited camera mounted on a bottom lander captured rare footage of another goblin shark swimming freely in its natural environment.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
But the most difficult challenge was the fact that Norman didn’t know he was at the center of the production, so he had to be constantly baited.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
BB14 landed on their radar in May 2024 when she wandered into a baited trap in Claremont.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
I rigged up a figure-four trap under the log, and baited it with elder berries rolled into a ball.
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
Her Honor just needed to do more of the same: hail her own accomplishments, deliver well-timed zingers and keep as cool as a cucumber while baiting Raman into self-immolation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Smishing has become one of those quotidian irritations of modern life, and for some people, baiting the sender can feel like a tiny act of revenge—or just an opportunity for amusement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Through a proprietary mixture of light nostalgia baiting and ever-present curiosity, Gellar has achieved a rare type of icon status — a superstar who owns her legacy, but isn’t willing to rest on her laurels.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2026
The scam involves baiting a customer with an initial cheap quote before adding on hidden charges and carrying out unnecessary work that leads to spiralling costs.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2026
His big, big laugh was as much for her as for the baiting.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
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