Word: bite Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- Proto-Indo-European *bʰéydt Proto-Germanic *bītaną Proto-West Germanic *bītan Old English bītan Middle English biten English bite From Middle English biten, from Old English bītan (“bite”), from Proto-West Germanic *bītan, from Proto-Germanic *bītaną (“bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“split”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian biete (“bite”), West Frisian bite (“bite”), Dutch bijten (“bite”), German Low German bieten (“bite”), German beißen, beissen (“bite”), Danish bide (“bite”), Swedish bita (“bite”), Norwegian Bokmål bite (“bite”), Norwegian Nynorsk bita (“bite”), Faroese and Icelandic bíta (“bite”), Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan, “bite”), Latin findō (“split”), Ancient Greek φείδομαι (pheídomai), Sanskrit भिद् (bhid, “break”). Pronunciation: /baɪt/ 1. The act of biting. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: […]I have knowne a very good Fiſher angle diligently four or ſix hours in a day, for three or four dayes together for a River Carp, and not have a bite[…] Example: Now trust me when I tell you, young lady, teeth are something you want to take care of. They’re these rare white things that give us pleasure throughout our life. And give us bite. Our inheritance. Our means of survival. Our right to rule. Their enamel is the front line. And that line needs to be won every day. 2. The wound left behind after having been bitten. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: That snake bite really hurts! 3. The swelling of one's skin caused by an insect's mouthparts or sting. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: After just one night in the jungle I was covered with mosquito bites. 4. A piece of food of a size that would be produced by biting; a mouthful. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: There were only a few bites left on the plate. Example: Not a soul in Corlaix will dare give us bite, sup, or shelter; and we shall die starved in a ditch, all four of us—that much we are our own, but in all else we are Monseigneur’s; all else, I say, all—all. 5. Something unpleasant. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: In February of this year, 9to5 was forced to lay off four of its paid staff, and began to feel the bite of its high-rent downtown office space. 6. An act of plagiarism. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: That song is a bite of my song! 7. A small meal or snack. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: a bite to eat Example: I'll have a quick bite to quiet my stomach until dinner. 8. incisiveness, provocativeness, exactness. Labels: figuratively, uncountable 9. Aggression. Labels: figuratively, uncountable Example: Kathy Santen is full of bite as the bizarrely seduced Lady Anne, although her exaggerated diction is a bit too snappishly Shakespearean. Example: In Tarabai’s text this exposure is direct, unusually blunt, full of bite and ridicule, and highly polemical. 10. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 11. A cheat; a trick; a fraud. Labels: colloquial, countable, dated, uncountable Example: The baser methods of getting money by fraud and bite, by deceiving and overreaching. 12. A sharper; one who cheats. Labels: colloquial, countable, dated, slang, uncountable Example: [I]t was conjectured, that Peregrine was a bite from the beginning, who had found credit on account of his effrontery and appearance, and impoſed himſelf upon the town as a young gentleman of fortune. Example: So he went home cursing the Yorkshire bites, and swearing there was no living among them […] 13. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 14. A cut, a proportion of profits; an amount of money. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: I know three Americans who are running a bar. The cops come in all the time for a bite. 15. Ellipsis of sound bite. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Example: cold open: Starting a TV newscast with video or a bite from the lead story rather than starting with the anchor or the standard show open. 16. The turn that a spin bowler imparts to a pitch. Labels: countable, uncountable