Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Jump To:
  • bear-baiting
    bear-baiting
    noun
    the former practice of setting dogs to fight a captive bear.
  • bear baiting
    bear baiting
    noun
    the practice of placing food or other attractants to lure bears to a particular location so they can be hunted.

bear-baiting

1 American  
[bair-bay-ting] / ˈbɛərˌbeɪ tɪŋ /
Or bearbaiting

noun

  1. the former practice of setting dogs to fight a captive bear.


bear baiting 2 American  
[bair bay-ting] / ˈbɛər ˌbeɪ tɪŋ /

noun

Hunting.
  1. the practice of placing food or other attractants to lure bears to a particular location so they can be hunted.


bear-baiting British  

noun

  1. (formerly) an entertainment in which dogs attacked and enraged a chained bear

"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

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of bear-baiting

First recorded in 1580–90; bear 2, bait (in the sense “to set dogs upon for sport”), -ing 1 ( def. )


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:

Environmental groups immediately assailed the proposal, saying bear-baiting and other hunting and trapping practices the measure would permit are inhumane and disruptive to the natural predator-prey dynamic in Alaska’s preserves.

From Reuters ● May 21, 2018

The agency determined then that bear-baiting was biologically unsound, potentially unsafe and “inconsistent with federal law authorizing sport hunting in national preserves in Alaska.”

From Reuters ● May 21, 2018

Maine voters will decide whether to ban bear-baiting and using dogs to hunt bears.

From New York Times ● Oct. 30, 2014

With bear-baiting now illegal, the plucking and basting of turkeys is one of the few public rituals of catharsis we have, in an age of $150m marketing campaigns and Happy Meal burger tie-ins.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 20, 2013

At Beverley late, much of the people being at a bear-baiting, the church fell suddenly down at evening-time, and overwhelmed some that were in it.

From Witch, Warlock, and Magician Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland by W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport) Adams

A similar ban on bear baiting, enacted in 2015 during the Obama administration, was rescinded by the 2020 rule, the park service said.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 6, 2023

She was cited for bear baiting, a charge that is still pending.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 26, 2018

Greyhound racing in Australia's most populous state is set to go the way of bear baiting and cock fighting - a sport deemed by authorities simply too distasteful to continue.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2016

Ten U.S. states currently allow bear baiting, according to Humane Society data.

From Reuters ● May 27, 2014

It appears from the Corporation Books that the Mayor and Aldermen patronised every kind of sport—plays, cock fights, bear baiting, morris dancing. 

From Rides on Railways by Samuel Sidney

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training