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.
to sever with the teeth (often fol. by off): Don't bite your nails. The child bit off a large piece of the candy bar.
6.
to start to eat (often fol. by into): She bit into her steak.
7.
to clamp the teeth firmly on or around (often fol. 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.
Archaic. 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, esp. 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.
to act effectively; grip; hold: This wood is so dry the screws don't bite.
19.
Slang. to be notably repellent, disappointing, poor, etc.; suck.
–noun
20.
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.
a 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.
Metalworking. the maximum angle, measured from the center of a roll in a rolling mill, between a perpendicular and a line to the point of contact where a given object to be rolled will enter between the rolls.
—Idioms
32.
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.
To cut, grip, or tear with or as if with the teeth.
To pierce the skin of with the teeth, fangs, or mouthparts.
To sting with a stinger.
To cut into with or as if with a sharp instrument: The ax bit the log deeply.
To grip, grab, or seize: bald treads that couldn't bite the icy road; bitten by a sudden desire to travel.
To eat into; corrode.
To cause to sting or be painful: cold that bites the skin; a conscience bitten by remorse.
v.
intr.
To grip, cut into, or injure something with or as if with the teeth.
To have a stinging effect.
To have a sharp taste.
To take or swallow bait.
To be taken in by a ploy or deception: tried to sell the Brooklyn Bridge, but no one bit.
Vulgar Slang To be highly disagreeable or annoying.
n.
The act of biting.
A skin wound or puncture produced by an animal's teeth or mouthparts: the bite of an insect.
A stinging or smarting sensation.
An incisive, penetrating quality: the bite of satire.
An amount of food taken into the mouth at one time; a mouthful.
Informal A light meal or snack.
A secure grip or hold applied by a tool or machine upon a working surface.
The part of a tool or machine that presses against and maintains a firm hold on a working surface.
An amount removed by or as if by an act of biting: Rezoning took a bite out of the town's residential area.
An excerpt or fragment taken from something larger, such as a film.
An amount of food taken into the mouth at one time; a mouthful.
Informal A light meal or snack.
A secure grip or hold applied by a tool or machine upon a working surface.
The part of a tool or machine that presses against and maintains a firm hold on a working surface.
The act or an instance of taking bait: fished all day without a bite; an ad that got a few bites but no final sales.
A secure grip or hold applied by a tool or machine upon a working surface.
The part of a tool or machine that presses against and maintains a firm hold on a working surface.
Dentistry The angle at which the upper and lower teeth meet; occlusion.
The corrosive action of acid upon an etcher's metal plate.
Slang An amount of money appropriated or withheld: trying to avoid the tax bite.
[Middle English biten, from Old English bītan; see bheid- in Indo-European roots.]
bit'a·ble, bite'a·ble adj., bit'er n.
Synonyms: These verbs mean to seize and tear or grind something with the teeth: bite into a ripe apple; a horse champing at its bit; a cow chomping its hay; a dog gnawing a bone.
Bite\, v. t. [imp. Bit; p. p. Bitten, Bit; p. pr. & vb. n. Biting.] [OE. biten, AS. b[=i]tan; akin to D. bijten, OS. b[=i]tan, OHG. b[=i]zan, G. beissen, Goth. beitan, Icel. b[=i]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.
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