bearbaiting
[bair-bey-ting]
- the former practice of setting dogs to fight a captive bear.
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Origin of bearbaiting
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bear-baiting
Contemporary Examples
It is also true that the New York Post practices the celebrity equivalent of bear-baiting.
Historical Examples
There were bull-baiting, bear-baiting, and football on Sunday.
The Greatest English ClassicCleland Boyd McAfee
Bull-running and bull-baiting was an attraction only rivalled by bear-baiting.
Old Country Inns of EnglandHenry P. Maskell
Go not to kill men, as if you went to a cock-fight, or a bear-baiting.
A Christian Directory (Part 4 of 4)Richard Baxter
The next year, again, they are all for Hockley-in-the-Hole and bear-baiting.
The Chaplain of the FleetWalter Besant and James Rice
Bear-baiting and bull-baiting were prohibited by act of parliament in 1835.
bear-baiting
- (formerly) an entertainment in which dogs attacked and enraged a chained bear
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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