bite Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a wound resulting from biting by an animal or a person
  2. noun a small amount of solid food; a mouthful
    bit; morsel.
    • all they had left was a bit of bread
  3. noun a painful wound caused by the thrust of an insect's stinger into skin
    insect bite; sting.
  4. noun a light informal meal
    collation; snack.
  5. noun (angling) an instance of a fish taking the bait
    • after fishing for an hour he still had not had a bite
  6. noun wit having a sharp and caustic quality
    pungency.
    • he commented with typical pungency
    • the bite of satire
  7. noun a strong odor or taste property
    sharpness; pungency; raciness.
    • the pungency of mustard
    • the sulfurous bite of garlic
    • the sharpness of strange spices
    • the raciness of the wine
  8. noun the act of gripping or chewing off with the teeth and jaws
    chomp.
  9. noun a portion removed from the whole
    • the government's weekly bite from my paycheck
  10. verb to grip, cut off, or tear with or as if with the teeth or jaws
    seize with teeth.
    • Gunny invariably tried to bite her
  11. verb cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort
    burn; sting.
    • The sun burned his face
  12. verb penetrate or cut, as with a knife
    • The fork bit into the surface
  13. verb deliver a sting to
    prick; sting.
    • A bee stung my arm yesterday

WordNet

Bite transitive verb
Etymology
OE. biten, AS. bitan; akin to D. bijten, OS. bitan, OHG. bizan, G. beissen, Goth. beitan, Icel. bita, Sw. bita, Dan. bide, L. findere to cleave, Skr. bhid to cleave. Cf. Fissure.
Wordforms
imperfect Bit ; past participle Bitten Bit; present participle & verbal noun Biting
Definitions
  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.
Bite intransitive verb
Definitions
  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.
Bite noun
Etymology
OE. bite, bit, bitt, AS. bite bite, fr. bitan to bite, akin to Icel. bit, OS. biti, G. biss. See Bite, v., and cf. Bit.
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913