bait

[beyt]

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noun

food, or some substitute, used as a lure in fishing, trapping, etc.

a poisoned lure used in exterminating pests.

an allurement; enticement: Employees were lured with the bait of annual bonuses.

an object for pulling molten or liquefied material, as glass, from a vat or the like by adhesion.

South Midland and Southern U.S.

a large or sufficient quantity or amount: He fetched a good bait of wood.
an excessive quantity or amount.

British Slang. food.

verb (used with object)

to prepare (a hook or trap) with bait.

to entice by deception or trickery so as to entrap or destroy: using fake signal lights to bait the ships onto the rocks.

to attract, tempt, or captivate.

to set dogs upon (an animal) for sport.

to worry, torment, or persecute, especially with malicious remarks: a nasty habit of baiting defenseless subordinates.

to tease: They love to bait him about his gaudy ties.

to feed and water (a horse or other animal), especially during a journey.

verb (used without object) Archaic.

to stop for food or refreshment during a journey.

(of a horse or other animal) to take food; feed.

Origin of bait

1150–1200; Middle English bait, beit (noun), baiten (v.) < Old Norse, probably reflecting both beita to pasture, hunt, chase with dogs or hawks (ultimately causative of bíta to bite; cf. bate³) and beita fish bait

Related formsbait·er, nouno·ver·bait, verb (used with object)re·bait, verb (used with object)un·bait, verb (used with object)

Can be confusedbait batebaited bated

Synonyms for bait

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11. badger, heckle, pester.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bait

Contemporary Examples of bait

The gang does bait two officers with Noah, but another car comes tearing in and whisks them both away.
The Walking Dead’s ‘Crossed’: The Stage Is Now Set for a Bloody, Deadly Midseason Finale
Melissa Leon
November 24, 2014
In November, Maine voters will vote on whether to ban using dogs, traps, and bait to hunt black bears in the Pine Tree State.
America’s Most Important (and Wackiest) Referendums This November
Ben Jacobs
October 22, 2014
“A lot of times the people who are being smuggled here are just being used as bait,” he says.
How Mexico’s Cartels Are Behind the Border Kid Crisis
Caitlin Dickson
July 9, 2014
The Frisky took the bait, writing that “If famous works of art had been created today, they might have a whole different look.”
Botticelli's Venus Gets Photoshop Treatment
Lizzie Crocker
May 25, 2014
The question is whether any Republican senators will take the bait.
Could Shutdown Skeletons Haunt Sylvia Burwell?
Ben Jacobs
April 11, 2014

Historical Examples of bait

Robert went out into the garden, and dug some worms for bait.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
The waters were full of fish, but they would not take the bait.
Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia
Thomas Mitchell
Johnson was stationed in the powder-magazine, in charge of the cord which held the bait.
The Field of Ice
Jules Verne
A whale swallowed this bait and then tried to escape as he felt the rope pulling him.
Classic Myths
Mary Catherine Judd
Give my horse a bait and a drink, I beg of ye, for I must get on my way.'
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle

British Dictionary definitions for bait

bait

noun

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

an enticement; temptation

a variant spelling of bate 4

Northern English dialect food, esp a packed lunch

archaic a short stop for refreshment during a journey

verb

(tr) to put a piece of food on or in (a hook or trap)

(tr) to persecute or tease

(tr) to entice; tempt

(tr) to set dogs upon (a bear, etc)

(tr) archaic to feed (a horse), esp during a break in a journey

(intr) archaic to stop for rest and refreshment during a journey

Word Origin for bait

C13: from Old Norse beita to hunt, persecute; related to Old English bǣtan to restrain, hunt, Old High German beizen

usage

The phrase with bated breath is sometimes wrongly spelled with baited breath

bait

verb

a variant spelling of bate 2

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bait

"food put on a hook or trap to lure prey," c.1300, from Old Norse beita "food," related to Old Norse beit "pasture," Old English bat "food," literally "to cause to bite" (see bait (v.)). Figurative sense "anything used as a lure" is from c.1400.

v.1

"to torment or goad (someone unable to escape, and to take pleasure in it)," c.1300, beyten, a figurative use from the literal sense of "to set dogs on," from the medieval entertainment of setting dogs on some ferocious animal to bite and worry it (the literal use is attested from c.1300); from Old Norse beita "to cause to bite," from Proto-Germanic *baitan (cf. Old English bætan "to cause to bite," Old High German beizzen "to bait," Middle High German beiz "hunting," German beizen "to hawk, to cauterize, etch"), causative of *bitan (see bite (v.)); the causative word forked into the two meanings of "harass" and "food offered." Related: Baited; baiting.

v.2

"to put food on a hook or in a trap," c.1300, probably from bait (n.). Related: Baited; baiting.

Idioms and Phrases with bait

bait

In addition to the idiom beginning with bait

bait and switch

also see:

fish or cut bait
jump at (the bait)
rise to the bait

bait

noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object) Archaic.

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Origin of bait

Synonyms for bait

Examples from the Web for bait

Contemporary Examples of bait

Historical Examples of bait

bait

noun

verb

Word Origin for bait

usage

bait

verb

bait