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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bite \Bite\, verb (used without an object)
1. To seize something forcibly with the teeth; to wound with the teeth; to have the habit of so doing; as, does the dog bite?
2. To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent; as, it bites like pepper or mustard.
3. To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.
At the last it [wine] biteth like serpent, and stingeth like an adder. --Prov. xxiii. 32.
4. To take a bait into the mouth, as a fish does; hence, to take a tempting offer.
5. To take or keep a firm hold; as, the anchor bites.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bite \Bite\ (b[imac]t), verb (used with an object) [imp. {Bit} (b[i^]t); p. p. {Bitten} (b[i^]t"t'n), {Bit}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Biting}.] [OE. biten, AS. b[imac]tan; akin to D. bijten, OS. b[imac]tan, OHG. b[imac]zan, G. beissen, Goth. beitan, Icel. b[imac]ta, Sw. bita, Dan. bide, L. findere to cleave, Skr. bhid to cleave. [root]87. Cf. {Fissure}.]
1. To seize with the teeth, so that they enter or nip the thing seized; to lacerate, crush, or wound with the teeth; as, to bite an apple; to bite a crust; the dog bit a man.
Such smiling rogues as these, Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain. --Shak.
2. To puncture, abrade, or sting with an organ (of some insects) used in taking food.
3. To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the mouth. "Frosts do bite the meads." --Shak.
4. To cheat; to trick; to take in. [Colloq.] --Pope.
5. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to; as, the anchor bites the ground.
The last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, . . . it turned and turned with nothing to bite. --Dickens.
{To bite the dust}, {To bite the ground}, to fall in the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the dust.
{To bite in} (Etching), to corrode or eat into metallic plates by means of an acid.
{To bite the thumb at} (any one), formerly a mark of contempt, designed to provoke a quarrel; to defy. "Do you bite your thumb at us?" --Shak.
{To bite the tongue}, to keep silence. --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bite \Bite\, noun [OE. bite, bit, bitt, AS. bite bite, fr. b[imac]tan to bite, akin to Icel. bit, OS. biti, G. biss. See {Bite}, v., and cf. {Bit}.]
1. The act of seizing with the teeth or mouth; the act of wounding or separating with the teeth or mouth; a seizure with the teeth or mouth, as of a bait; as, to give anything a hard bite.
I have known a very good fisher angle diligently four or six hours for a river carp, and not have a bite. --Walton.
2. The act of puncturing or abrading with an organ for taking food, as is done by some insects.
3. The wound made by biting; as, the pain of a dog's or snake's bite; the bite of a mosquito.
4. A morsel; as much as is taken at once by biting.
5. The hold which the short end of a lever has upon the thing to be lifted, or the hold which one part of a machine has upon another.
6. A cheat; a trick; a fraud. [Colloq.]
The baser methods of getting money by fraud and bite, by deceiving and overreaching. --Humorist.
7. A sharper; one who cheats. [Slang] --Johnson.
8. (Print.) A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
noun
1: a wound resulting from biting by an animal or a person
2: a small amount of solid food; a mouthful; "all they had left was a bit of bread" [syn: {morsel}, {bit}, {bite}]
3: a painful wound caused by the thrust of an insect's stinger into skin [syn: {sting}, {bite}, {insect bite}]
4: a light informal meal [syn: {bite}, {collation}, {snack}]
5: (angling) an instance of a fish taking the bait; "after fishing for an hour he still had not had a bite"
6: wit having a sharp and caustic quality; "he commented with typical pungency"; "the bite of satire" [syn: {pungency}, {bite}]
7: a strong odor or taste property; "the pungency of mustard"; "the sulfurous bite of garlic"; "the sharpness of strange spices"; "the raciness of the wine" [syn: {pungency}, {bite}, {sharpness}, {raciness}]
8: the act of gripping or chewing off with the teeth and jaws [syn: {bite}, {chomp}]
9: a portion removed from the whole; "the government's weekly bite from my paycheck"
verb
1: to grip, cut off, or tear with or as if with the teeth or jaws; "Gunny invariably tried to bite her" [syn: {bite}, {seize with teeth}]
2: cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort; "The sun burned his face" [syn: {bite}, {sting}, {burn}]
3: penetrate or cut, as with a knife; "The fork bit into the surface"
4: deliver a sting to; "A bee stung my arm yesterday" [syn: {sting}, {bite}, {prick}]
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Definitions retrieved from the Open Source DICT Webster's English and WordNet 3.0 dictionaries. Click here for database copyright information.
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