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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Biting \Bit"ing\, a.
That bites; sharp; cutting; sarcastic; caustic. "A biting
affliction." "A biting jest." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
biting
adj 1: capable of wounding; "a barbed compliment"; "a biting
aphorism"; "pungent satire" [syn: barbed, nipping,
pungent, mordacious]
2: causing a sharply painful or stinging sensation; used
especially of cold; "bitter cold"; "a biting wind" [syn: bitter]
WordNet (r) 2.0
165 Moby Thesaurus words for "biting":
Attic, Siberian, acerb, acerbate, acerbic, acid, acidic, acidulent,
acidulous, acrid, acrimonious, acute, afflictive, agonizing, algid,
arctic, asperous, astringent, atrocious, below zero, bitter,
bitterly cold, bleak, boreal, brilliant, brisk, brumal, caustic,
clear-cut, clever, cold, cold as charity, cold as death,
cold as ice, cold as marble, corroding, corrosive, cramping, crisp,
cruel, cutting, distressing, double-edged, driving, droll, edged,
effective, escharotic, excruciating, facetious, fierce, forceful,
forcible, freezing, freezing cold, frigid, funny, gelid, glacial,
gnawing, grave, griping, gutsy, hard, harrowing, harsh, hibernal,
hiemal, humorous, humorsome, hurtful, hurting, hyperborean,
ice-cold, ice-encrusted, icelike, icy, imperative, impressive,
incisive, inclement, ingoing, irritating, jesting, jocose, jocular,
joking, joky, joshing, keen, keen-witted, mordacious, mordant,
nervous, nimble-witted, nipping, nippy, nose-tickling, numbing,
painful, paroxysmal, penetrating, piercing, pinching, piquant,
poignant, pointed, powerful, punchy, pungent, quick-witted,
racking, rapier-like, raw, rigorous, rough, salt, salty, scathing,
scintillating, scorching, sensational, severe, sharp, shooting,
sinewed, sinewy, slashing, sleety, slushy, smart, snappy, sour,
sparkling, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, sprightly, stabbing,
stinging, stone-cold, strident, striking, stringent, strong,
subzero, supercooled, tart, telling, tormenting, torturous,
trenchant, vehement, vigorous, violent, virulent, vital, vitriolic,
whimsical, winterbound, winterlike, wintery, wintry, withering,
witty
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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