bite

BITE, verb transitive preterit tense bit; participle passive bit, bitten. 1. To break or crush with the teeth, as in eating; to pierce with the teeth, as a serpent; to seize with the teeth, as a dog. 2. To pinch or pain, as with cold; as a biting north wind; the frost bites. 3. To reproach with sarcasm; to treat with severity by words or writing; as, one poet praises, another bites. 4. To pierce, cut, or wound; as a biting falchion. 5. To make to smart, as acids bite the mouth. 6. To cheat; to trick. The rogue was bit. [Not elegant, but common.] 7. To enter the ground and hold fast, as the bill and palm of an anchor. 8. To injure by angry contention. If ye bite and devour one another. Galatians 5:15. BITE, noun The seizure of any thing by the teeth of an animal, as the bite of a dog; or with the mouth, as of a fish. 1. The wound made by the teeth. 2. A morsel; as much as is taken at once by biting; a mouthful. 3. A cheat; a trick; a fraud. [A low word.] 4. A sharper; one who cheats.