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bait

[beyt]

Example Sentences Origin

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noun

food, or some substitute, used as a lure in fishing, trapping, etc.

a poisoned lure used in exterminating pests.

an allurement; enticement: Employees were lured with the bait of annual bonuses.

an object for pulling molten or liquefied material, as glass, from a vat or the like by adhesion.

South Midland and Southern U.S.

a large or sufficient quantity or amount: He fetched a good bait of wood.

an excessive quantity or amount.

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British Slang. food.

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verb (used with object)

to prepare (a hook or trap) with bait.

to entice by deception or trickery so as to entrap or destroy: using fake signal lights to bait the ships onto the rocks.

to attract, tempt, or captivate.

10.

to set dogs upon (an animal) for sport.

11.

to worry, torment, or persecute, especially with malicious remarks: a nasty habit of baiting defenseless subordinates.

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12.

to tease: They love to bait him about his gaudy ties.

13.

to feed and water (a horse or other animal), especially during a journey.

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Bait is one of our favorite verbs.

So is subtilize. Does it mean:

to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used without object) Archaic.

14.

to stop for food or refreshment during a journey.

15.

(of a horse or other animal) to take food; feed.

Origin:
1150–1200; Middle English bait, beit (noun), baiten (v.) < Old Norse, probably reflecting both beita to pasture, hunt, chase with dogs or hawks (ultimately causative of bíta to bite; compare bate³) and beita fish bait

Related forms

bait·er, noun

o·ver·bait, verb (used with object)

re·bait, verb (used with object)

un·bait, verb (used with object)

Can be confused: 1. bait, bate; 2. baited, bated.

Synonyms
11. badger, heckle, pester.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To bait

Example Sentences

The lack of bait and the certainty that the trip will be almost a dead.

Many times the bait of tenure is dangled in front of a foreign hire.

The bait to attract foreign carmakers was access to a huge potential market.

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The lack of bait and the certainty that the trip will be almost a dead.

Many times the bait of tenure is dangled in front of a foreign hire.

The bait to attract foreign carmakers was access to a huge potential market.

Cherry, a former bait dog in a dog fighting ring, is petrified of humans.

Worm grunters have mastered the art of charming worms out of their burrows so they can be collected and sold as bait.

Trap after trap is empty, the bait nibbled by weasels too light to trip the mechanism.

Do not touch the bait with your hands or anything you have been handling.

They are also in the process of building a remote-control bait mechanism for the hamsters to chase.

The bait thief suggests a different, nonoppositional strategy.

One of the best ways to avoid becoming bait is to understand that you are not a seer.

Such articles of yours work as bait for trout fishing.

Big claws, hard shells, and dainty legs propel giant bottom-dwellers and microscopic whale bait through a watery universe.

Daddy would spend the day casting his net and fishing while us young' uns would crab with our homemade chicken neck bait lines.

Be careful with such controls if children or pets use the garden, since bait is attractive to them.

Using free content as bait for paying customers doesn't work for newspapers.

Army snipers have begun using fake weapons and bomb-making material as bait and then killing anyone who picks them.

To go after existing balances would be a huge bait and switch on the govt's part.

It takes saintliness and iron self-discipline not to respond to bait as alluring as this.

Wrap three or four jam jars with masking tape, pierce small holes in the top, and smear the outside with the bait syrup.

Coyotes somehow snagged the rib meat put out as bait without getting caught.

Put bait under stones, along the edges of walks, and near foundations.

That's because it's a similar process: phishers apply bait and wait for a bite.

The bait was eventually fed to the queen ant, and the toxic amdro annihilated the nest.

It is not a real biggie to me unless someone is trying to bait me by using it.

The next couple of frames show it with its trophy bait fish.

The wildlife division trapped deer for one day, and quit because the bait attracted the hogs, which tore up the traps.

To protect pets and wild birds, place the bait in petproof slug traps.

Besides, if you leave it lying near your back door, you can use it as bait to replenish your ant colony.

The technicians installed bait devices around and in the museum.

Take deep breaths, reply firmly and calmly, and do not take the bait.

Biologists have discovered that amphibian diseases are spread by bait shops.

Water deeply and regularly, and bait for snails and slugs.

Wright found he was more interested in designing the towns that served as chopper bait.

It wasn't until after the bait had been on the market for a few years that entomologists discovered why they worked so well:.

Larvae can be carried in bilge water, bait buckets, and fish holds.

For centuries, fishermen have been concocting various potions intended to stimulate their prey to take lure or bait.

Weighted lines, which sink longline bait more quickly, also work.

It is one of the creepier of creatures: a squirming, snakelike fish, good mostly for sushi or bait.

To some people its primary function is fishing bait.

Sometimes, he's out on the bay, catching clams or trapping crabs and fishing for bait.

Indonesian poachers use a barking puppy as bait to lure tigers into a trap.

The bait is nightcrawlers, or biscuit dough for the squeamish.

She's going to bait it and collect oceanographic data at the same time.

In that case, the officials said, residents should put on gloves and toss the bait into deeper cover under trees or bushes.

Children bait strings with chicken necks to catch blue crabs.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

bait¹ (beɪt)

—n
1.	something edible, such as soft bread paste, worms, or pieces of meat, fixed to a hook or in a trap to attract fish or animals
2.	an enticement; temptation
3.	a variant spelling of bate
4.	dialect (Northern English) food, esp a packed lunch
5.	archaic a short stop for refreshment during a journey

—vb
6.	(tr) to put a piece of food on or in (a hook or trap)
7.	(tr) to persecute or tease
8.	(tr) to entice; tempt
9.	(tr) to set dogs upon (a bear, etc)
10.	archaic (tr) to feed (a horse), esp during a break in a journey
11.	archaic (intr) to stop for rest and refreshment during a journey

usage The phrase with bated breath is sometimes wrongly spelled with baited breath

bait² (beɪt)

—vb
	a variant spelling of bate

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

bait

"food put on a hook or trap to lure prey," c.1300, from O.N. beita "food," related to O.N. beit "pasture," O.E. bat "food," lit. "to cause to bite" (see bait (v.)). Figurative sense "anything used as a lure" is from c.1400. The verb in this sense, "to put food on a hook or

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in a trap," is attested from c.1300, probably from the noun.

bait

"to torment or goad (someone unable to escape, and to take pleasure in it)," c.1200, beyten, a figurative use from the literal sense of "to set dogs on," from the medieval entertainment of setting dogs on some ferocious animal to bite and worry it (the literal use is attested from c.1300); from O.N.

beita "to cause to bite," from P.Gmc. *baitan (cf. O.E. bætan "to cause to bite," O.H.G. beizzen "to bait," M.H.G. beiz "hunting," Ger. beizen "to hawk, to cauterize, etch"), causative of *bitan (see bite); the causative word forked into the two meanings of "harass" and "food offered."

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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

bait

In addition to the idiom beginning with bait, also see fish or cut bait; jump at (the bait); rise to the bait.