Nearby Words
adjective
1.
nipping; smarting; keen: biting cold; a biting sensation on the tongue.
2.
cutting; sarcastic: a biting remark.
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Biting
is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
verb (used with object)
1.
to cut, wound, or tear with the teeth: She bit the apple greedily. The lion bit his trainer.
2.
to grip or hold with the teeth: Stop biting your lip!
3.
to sting, as does an insect.
4.
to cause to smart or sting: an icy wind that bit our faces.
5.
EXPANDto sever with the teeth (often followed by off): Don't bite your nails. The child bit off a large piece of the candy bar.
6.
to start to eat (often followed by into): She bit into her steak.
7.
to clamp the teeth firmly on or around (often followed by on): He bit hard on the stick while they removed the bullet from his leg.
8.
Informal.
a.
to take advantage of; cheat; deceive: I got bitten in a mail-order swindle.
b.
to annoy or upset; anger: What's biting you, sorehead?
9.
to eat into or corrode, as does an acid.
10.
to cut or pierce with, or as with, a weapon: The sword split his helmet and bit him fatally.
11.
Etching. to etch with acid (a copper or other surface) in such parts as are left bare of a protective coating.
12.
to take firm hold or act effectively on: We need a clamp to bite the wood while the glue dries.
13.
COLLAPSEArchaic. to make a decided impression on; affect.
verb (used without object)
14.
to press the teeth into something; attack with the jaws, bill, sting, etc.; snap: Does your parrot bite?
15.
Angling. (of fish) to take bait: The fish aren't biting today.
16.
to accept an offer or suggestion, especially one intended to trick or deceive: I knew it was a mistake, but I bit anyway.
17.
Informal. to admit defeat in guessing: I'll bite, who is it?
18.
EXPANDto act effectively; grip; hold: This wood is so dry the screws don't bite.
19.
COLLAPSESlang. to be notably repellent, disappointing, poor, etc.; suck.
noun
Idioms20.
an act of biting.
21.
a wound made by biting: a deep bite.
22.
a cutting, stinging, or nipping effect: the bite of an icy wind; the bite of whiskey on the tongue.
23.
a piece bitten off: Chew each bite carefully.
24.
EXPANDa small meal: Let's have a bite before the theater.
25.
a portion severed from the whole: the government's weekly bite of my paycheck.
26.
a morsel of food: not a bite to eat.
27.
the occlusion of one's teeth: The dentist said I had a good bite.
28.
Machinery.
a.
the catch or hold that one object or one part of a mechanical apparatus has on another.
b.
a surface brought into contact to obtain a hold or grip, as in a lathe chuck or similar device.
c.
the amount of material that a mechanical shovel or the like can carry at one time.
29.
sharpness; incisiveness; effectiveness: The bite of his story is spoiled by his slovenly style.
30.
the roughness of the surface of a file.
31.
COLLAPSE32.
bite off more than one can chew, to attempt something that exceeds one's capacity: In trying to build a house by himself, he bit off more than he could chew.
33.
bite someone's head off, to respond with anger or impatience to someone's question or comment: He'll bite your head off if you ask for anything.
34.
bite the bullet. bullet (def. 7).
35.
bite the dust. dust (def. 21).
36.
EXPANDbite the hand that feeds one, to repay kindness with malice or injury: When he berates his boss, he is biting the hand that feeds him.
37.
COLLAPSEput the bite on, Slang.
a.
to solicit or attempt to borrow money or something of value from.
b.
to press for money, as in extortion: They found out about his prison record and began to put the bite on him.
Origin:
before 1000; Middle English biten, Old English bītan; cognate with Old High German bīzan (German beissen), Gothic beitan, Old Norse bīta; akin to Latin findere to split
before 1000; Middle English biten, Old English bītan; cognate with Old High German bīzan (German beissen), Gothic beitan, Old Norse bīta; akin to Latin findere to split
Related forms
bit·a·ble, bite·a·ble, adjective
Synonyms
1. gnaw, chew, nip. 22. mouthful, morsel, taste; scrap, crumb, dab. 23. snack, nosh.
1. gnaw, chew, nip. 22. mouthful, morsel, taste; scrap, crumb, dab. 23. snack, nosh.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To biting
Collins
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
bite
O.E. bitan (class I strong verb; past tense bat, pp. biten), from P.Gmc. *bitan (O.Fris. bita, M.Du. biten, Ger. beissen, Goth. beitan "to bite"), from PIE base *bheid- "to split, crack" (see fissure). To bite the bullet is 1700s military slang, from old medical custom of
EXPANDhaving the patient bite a bullet during an operation to divert attention from pain and reduce screaming. To bite (one's) tongue "refrain from speaking" is 1590s. To bite the dust "die" is 1750. To bite off more than one can chew (c.1880) is U.S. slang, from plug tobacco.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
bite (bīt)
v. bit (bĭt), bit·ten (bĭt'n) or bit, bit·ing, bites
To cut, grip, or tear with the teeth.
To pierce the skin of with the teeth, fangs, or mouthparts.
The act of biting.
A puncture or laceration of the skin by the teeth of an animal or the mouthparts of an insect or similar organism.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Slang Dictionary
bite definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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