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