Word: bite Part of Speech: verb 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. To cut into something by clamping the teeth. Labels: transitive Example: As soon as you bite that sandwich, you'll know how good it is. 2. To hold something by clamping one's teeth. Labels: transitive 3. To attack with the teeth. Labels: intransitive Example: That dog is about to bite! 4. To behave aggressively; to reject advances. Labels: intransitive Example: If you see me, come and say hello. I don't bite. 5. To take hold; to establish firm contact with. Labels: intransitive Example: I needed snow chains to make the tires bite. 6. To have significant effect, often negative. Labels: intransitive Example: For homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages, rising interest will really bite. 7. To bite a baited hook or other lure and thus be caught. Labels: intransitive Example: Are the fish biting today? 8. To accept something offered, often secretly or deceptively, to cause some action by the acceptor. Labels: figuratively, intransitive Example: I've planted the story. Do you think they'll bite? 9. To sting. Labels: intransitive, transitive Example: These mosquitoes are really biting today! 10. To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent. Labels: intransitive Example: It bites like pepper or mustard. 11. To cause sharp pain or damage to; to hurt or injure. Labels: figuratively, sometimes, transitive Example: Pepper bites the mouth. Example: […]froſts doe bite the Meads[…] 12. To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing. Labels: intransitive Example: At the laſt it [wine] biteth like a ſerpent, and ſtingeth like ‖ an adder. 13. To take or keep a firm hold. Labels: intransitive Example: The anchor bites. 14. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to. Labels: transitive Example: The anchor bites the ground. Example: […]the last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, and it now turned and turned with nothing to bite[…] 15. To lack quality; to be worthy of derision; to suck. Labels: slang, stative Example: This music really bites. 16. To perform oral sex on. Used in invective. Labels: informal, transitive, vulgar Example: You don't like that I sat on your car? Bite me. 17. To plagiarize, to imitate. Labels: intransitive, slang Example: He always be biting my moves. 18. To deceive or defraud; to take in. Labels: obsolete, slang, transitive