DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
Bite v. t. [imp. Bit p. p. Bitten Bit; p. pr. & vb. n. Biting.]
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.”
4. To cheat; to trick; to take in. [Colloq.]
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.
Bit·ing a. That bites; sharp; cutting; sarcastic; caustic. “A biting affliction.” “A biting jest.”
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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]