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.