backbite
nounEtymology From Middle English bakbiten, bacbiten, equivalent to back- + bite. Cognate with Icelandic bakbíta (“to backbite, vilify”).
1
One who engages in backbiting; a backbiter.
backbite
verbEtymology From Middle English bakbiten, bacbiten, equivalent to back- + bite. Cognate with Icelandic bakbíta (“to backbite, vilify”).
1
To make spiteful slanderous or defamatory statements about someone.
- They beguiled the time by backbiting and intriguing against each other in a foolish kind of way.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 213:
- Gumshoe: You're not gonna get me to backbite a woman with a whip. No way.2007 March 16, Capcom Production Studio 4, quoting Gumshoe, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All, Europe: Capcom, →OCLC, Nintendo DS, scene: Part 3: Investigation, Plaza, level/area: Turnabout Big Top:
2
Informal To attack from behind or when out of earshot with spiteful or defamatory remarks.
3
To speak badly of an absent individual.
- Derived terms
- backbiter, backbiting
- Related terms
- behind someone's back