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bait Definition

bait (bāt)

transitive verb

    1. to set attacking dogs against people formerly baited chained bears for sport
    2. to attack as such dogs do
  2. to torment or harass with unprovoked, vicious, repeated attacks
  3. to tease or goad, esp. so as to provoke a reaction
  4. to put food, etc. on (a hook or trap) to lure animals or fish
  5. to lure; tempt; entice
  6. Archaic to feed (animals) during a break in a journey

Etymology: ME baiten < ON beita < Gmc *baitian, caus. of *bitan: for base see bite

intransitive verb

Archaic to stop for food during a journey

noun

  1. food, etc. put on a hook or trap to lure fish or animals
  2. anything used as a lure; enticement
  3. ☆ Dialectal a large amount we wolfed down a bait of huckleberries
  4. Archaic a stop for rest or food during a journey

Etymology: ON beita, lure, fish bait

bait Related Forms
bait′er noun
bait Synonyms

bait

n.

lure, inducement, bribe; see attraction 2.

bait Synonyms

bait

v.

  1. To provide with a lure

    set, furnish, cover, charge.

  2. To torment

    badger, harass, goad, hound, nag, tease, torment, hector, heckle, worry, persecute, beleaguer, anger, ride*, needle*, pick on*; see also bother 2.

  3. To lure

    entice, attract, draw; see deceive, fascinate, seduce, tempt.

to bait is to harass or goad, as with repeated, unprovoked attacks, insults, or derision, and implies that the persecutor gets malicious pleasure from the act; to badger is to pester so persistently as to bring to a state of confusion or wear down; to hound is to pursue or attack relentlessly until the victim succumbs he was hounded out of office; heckle denotes the persistent questioning and taunting of a public speaker so as to annoy or confuse; hector implies a continual bullying or nagging in order to intimidate or break down resistance; torment, in this comparison, suggests continued harassment so as to cause acute suffering tormented by her memories; ride is colloquial and implies harassment or teasing by ridiculing, criticizing, etc. they were riding the rookie unmercifully from the dugout

bait Usage Examples

Object

  • breath: Looking forward to the second with baited breath... .
  • hook: This method of fishing involves the use of line to which thousands of baited hooks are attached.
  • traps: Investigation into specially baited bin traps is taking place.

Preposition: with

  • maggot: Our rods cast and baited with red maggots, we began the long wait for a bite.
  • hemp: Tactics were meat and soft paste on size 10 hooks baiting with hemp and carp pellet.

Adjective modifier

  • frozen: Make sure you take along some frozen fish bait, just in case the dogfish are feeding.
  • Icelandic: Hugh fished Icelandic Red baits to the back of the island from peg 74.
  • floating: Top Pond Despite the hot weather the pond is still fishing extremely well especially with floating baits.
  • Red: Hugh fished Icelandic Red baits to the back of the island from peg 74.
  • dead: Fishing peg 75, Dave fished small roach dead baits on a ledger rig 30m out.
  • productive: As one would expect, casters can be a very productive bait for the rudd when fished light just under the surface in summer.

Modifies a noun

  • dropper: His choice of feed for the perch swim was two bait droppers of bronze maggots with a few reds among them.
  • digging: Human activity including engineering works and also bait digging can lead to the reworking of the particulate waste.
  • fisher: It was amended with the rule that bait fishers will give way to fly anglers.

Noun used with modifier

  • hook: You can also work your way through hook baits trying double maggot or a single grain of hemp.
  • maggot: Top Pond Terry Jones Senior caught lots of roach and a carp of 12lbs on pole and maggot hook bait.
  • peeler: Fishing the hollows scoured out by the rough seas at low tide produces superb bags of quality cod to lugworm and peeler crab baits.
  • poison: All in a Days Work Placing poison bait in the sewer system to eradicate rodents.
  • boilie: Ros Needle landed a 6lbs carp using a boilie hook bait Middle Pond Joel Rees caught a 7lb carp on Wednesday.
  • squid: Matthew fished peg 66 and caught all his fish on PG's spicy squid baits.
bait Quotes

   And what a congress of stinks!ö Roots ripe as old bait, Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich, Leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks. Nothing would give up life: Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath.

—Rogers,Will

Browse dictionary entries near bait

  1. ‹ bairn
  2. ‹ Baird
  3. ‹ Baily's beads
  4. ‹ bailsman
  5. ‹ bailout
  6. ‹ bailor
  7. ‹ bailment offense
  8. ‹ bailment
  9. ‹ bailiwick
  10. ‹ bailiff
  1. bait-and-switch ›
  2. bait-casting ›
  3. bait rod ›
  4. baitfish ›
  5. baiza ›
  6. baize ›
  7. Baja California ›
  8. bake ›
  9. bake-off ›
  10. baked ›