BAIT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Bait

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noun

Bait n.

Any substance, esp. food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, inclosure, or net.

Anything which allures; a lure; enticement; temptation.

A portion of food or drink, as a refreshment taken on a journey; also, a stop for rest and refreshment.

A light or hasty luncheon.

Bait bug (Zool.), a crustacean of the genus Hippa found burrowing in sandy beaches. See Anomura.

verb

Bait v. t. (past & past part. baited; pres. part. baiting)

To provoke and harass; esp., to harass or torment for sport; as, to bait a bear with dogs; to bait a bull.

To give a portion of food and drink to, upon the road; as, to bait horses.

To furnish or cover with bait, as a trap or hook. "A crooked pin... baited with a vile earthworm."

Bait v. i. To stop to take a portion of food and drink for refreshment of one's self or one's beasts, on a journey. "Evil news rides post, while good news baits." "My lord's coach conveyed me to Bury, and thence baiting at Newmarket."

Bait v. i. To flap the wings; to flutter as if to fly; or to hover, as a hawk when she stoops to her prey. "Kites that bait and beat."

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Etymology of 'Bait'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Bait" Quotes from Famous Books

... that Ne-geek had shot for the purpose, Oo-koo-hoo scattered a few feathers about. Some of these, as well as the pan of the trap, had been previously daubed with a most stinking concoction called "fox bait"—hereafter called "mixed bait" to prevent confusing this with ...

— The Drama of the Forests - Romance and Adventure • Arthur Heming

... easy characters each afternoon on the blackboard for the girls to copy before going home. Thus the girls learned how to listen, to memorize, and to write. Since the number of girls increases perceptibly when we have a little English I use it as a bait. By Miss Merrill's consent, help was secured from the boarding-school in teaching half an hour of English every day in ...

— Notable Women Of Modern China • Margaret E. Burton

... Ransmores everything. The next day Fanny and I determined to go fishing, leaving Mrs. Ransmore to read novels in a hammock, an occupation she adores. Isaac was just as good as he could be all the time; he got rods for us, and made us some beautiful bait out of raw beef, for of course we did not want to handle worms; and we started for the river. We had just reached a place where we could see the water, when Fanny called out that somebody had a chicken-yard there, and that we would have to go around ...

— John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein • Frank R. Stockton

... artist painted a Magdalen on a canvas fabricated at Rome. A broker, in concert with Mignard, went to the Chevalier de Clairville, and told him as a secret that he was to receive from Italy a Magdalen of Guido, and his masterpiece. The chevalier caught the bait, begged the preference, and purchased the picture ...

— Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3) • Isaac D'Israeli

... know him, and don't care to, though his name is so familiar. New people always disappoint me, especially if I've heard them praised ever since I was born. I shall not get up for any Geoffrey Moor, so that bait fails." ...

— Moods • Louisa May Alcott

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