English

Noun

bait ‎(plural baits)

1. Any substance, especially food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, trap, or net.
2. Food containing poison or a harmful additive to kill animals that are pests.
3. Anything which allures; a lure; enticement; temptation.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fairfax to this entry?)

4. A portion of food or drink, as a refreshment taken on a journey; also, a stop for rest and refreshment.
   • 1818, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, chapter 20 page 70

     The tediousness of a two hours' bait at Petty-France, in which there was nothing to be done but to eat without being hungry, and loiter about without any thing to see, next followed[…]

   1. (Geordie) A packed lunch
   2. (East Anglia) A small meal taken mid-morning while farming
   3. (Northern England) A miner's packed meal.
5. A light or hasty luncheon.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin,
• The New Geordie Dictionary, Frank Graham, 1987, ISBN 0946928118
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977
• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, ISBN 1904794165

Verb

bait ‎(third-person singular simple present baits, present participle baiting, simple past and past participle baited)

1. (transitive) To attract with bait; to entice.
2. (transitive) To affix bait to a trap or a fishing hook or fishing line.
   • Washington Irving

     a crooked pin […] bailed with a vile earthworm

Translations

Usage notes

• This verb is sometimes confused in writing with the rare verb bate, which is pronounced identically; in particular, the expression with bated breath is frequently misspelled *with baited breath by writers unfamiliar with the verb bate.

Etymology 2

From Middle English baiten, beiten, from Old Norse beita ‎(“to bait, cause to bite, feed, hunt”), from Proto-Germanic *baitijaną ‎(“to cause to bite, bridle”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- ‎(“to cleave, split, separate”). Cognate with Icelandic beita ‎(“to bait”), Swedish beta ‎(“to bait, pasture, graze”), German beizen ‎(“to cause to bite, bait”), Old English bǣtan ‎(“to bait, hunt, bridle, bit”).

Verb

bait ‎(third-person singular simple present baits, present participle baiting, simple past and past participle baited)

1. (transitive) To set dogs on (an animal etc.) to bite or worry; to attack with dogs, especially for sport.

   to bait a bear with dogs;  to bait a bull

2. (transitive) To intentionally annoy, torment, or threaten by constant rebukes or threats; to harass.
3. (transitive, now rare) To feed and water (a horse or other animal), especially during a journey.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur, Bk.V, Ch.ix:

     And than they com into a lowe medow that was full of swete floures, and there thes noble knyghtes bayted her horses.

4. (intransitive) Of a horse or other animal: to take food, especially during a journey.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.22:

     King Cyrus, that he might more speedily receave news from al parts of his Empire (which was of exceeding great length), would needs have it tried how far a horse could in a day goe outright without baiting, at which distance he caused stations to be set up, and men to have fresh horses ready for al such as came to him.

5. To stop to take a portion of food and drink for refreshment during a journey.
   • Milton

     Evil news rides post, while good news baits.

   • Evelyn

     My lord's coach conveyed me to Bury, and thence baiting at Newmarket.

Translations

See also

• Baiting on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 3

French battre de l'aile or des ailes, to flap or flutter.

Verb

bait ‎(third-person singular simple present baits, present participle baiting, simple past and past participle baited)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To flap the wings; to flutter as if to fly; or to hover, as a hawk when she stoops to her prey.
   • Shakespeare

     Kites that bait and beat.

Anagrams

• abit , a bit

Malay

Etymology

From Arabic بَيْت ‎(bayt), from Proto-Semitic *bayt-.

Alternative forms

• بيت

Pronunciation

• (Johor-Selangor) IPA^(key): /baet/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA^(key): /baɪt/
• Rhymes: -aet, -et

Noun

bait ‎(Jawi spelling بيت)

1. house (abode)
2. home (house or structure in which someone lives)

Welsh

Alternative forms

• baet

Verb

bait

1. (literary) second-person singular imperfect subjunctive of bod

Synonyms

• byddit
• byddet

Mutation