bearbaiting

[bair-bey-ting]

noun

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

Other Word Forms

• bearbaiter noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bearbaiting¹

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

Example Sentences

That relationship is the unifying thread in a dense narrative stuffed with vividly drawn secondary characters and atmospheric set pieces that include a gruesome bearbaiting and a visit to an elaborately depraved brothel.

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Cruel animal practices persist out of the public eye, including dogfighting and bearbaiting.

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Is it for the bearbaiting spectacle of watching a load of big-tied dumbos trying to force through their terrible ideas with a truckload of unearned confidence?

Read more on The Guardian

A comprehensive knowledge of something like Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear,’ after all, was indicative of multiple afternoons spent at the playhouse idly enjoying oneself in the company of common citizens, right next door to bearbaiting and brothels.”

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It is an intrinsically depraved pleasure, like a taste for bearbaiting.

Read more on New York Times