bite



From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:


Bite \Bite\, v. i.
   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?
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   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.
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   3. To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or
      injure; to have the property of so doing.
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            At the last it [wine] biteth like serpent, and
            stingeth like an adder.               --Prov. xxiii.
                                                  32.
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   4. To take a bait into the mouth, as a fish does; hence, to
      take a tempting offer.
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   5. To take or keep a firm hold; as, the anchor bites.
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.



From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:


Bite \Bite\ (b[imac]t), v. t. [imp. Bit (b[i^]t); p. p.
   Bitten (b[i^]t"t'n), Bit; p. pr. & vb. n. Biting.] [OE.
   biten, AS. b[imac]tan; akin to D. bijten, OS. b[imac]tan,
   OHG. b[imac]zan, G. beissen, Goth. beitan, Icel. b[imac]ta,
   Sw. bita, Dan. bide, L. findere to cleave, Skr. bhid to
   cleave. [root]87. Cf. Fissure.]
   [1913 Webster]
   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.
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            Such smiling rogues as these,
            Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain. --Shak.
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   2. To puncture, abrade, or sting with an organ (of some
      insects) used in taking food.
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   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.
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   4. To cheat; to trick; to take in. [Colloq.] --Pope.
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   5. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to; as, the
      anchor bites the ground.
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            The last screw of the rack having been turned so
            often that its purchase crumbled, . . . it turned
            and turned with nothing to bite.      --Dickens.
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   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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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:


Bite \Bite\, n. [OE. bite, bit, bitt, AS. bite bite, fr.
   b[imac]tan to bite, akin to Icel. bit, OS. biti, G. biss. See
   Bite, v., and cf. Bit.]
   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.
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            I have known a very good fisher angle diligently
            four or six hours for a river carp, and not have a
            bite.                                 --Walton.
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   2. The act of puncturing or abrading with an organ for taking
      food, as is done by some insects.
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   3. The wound made by biting; as, the pain of a dog's or
      snake's bite; the bite of a mosquito.
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   4. A morsel; as much as is taken at once by biting.
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   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.
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   6. A cheat; a trick; a fraud. [Colloq.]
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            The baser methods of getting money by fraud and
            bite, by deceiving and overreaching.  --Humorist.
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   7. A sharper; one who cheats. [Slang] --Johnson.
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   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.
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