Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- Proto-Indo-European *bʰéydt Proto-Germanic *bītaną Proto-West Germanic *bītan Old English bītan Middle English biten English bite From Middle English biten, from Old English bītan (“bite”), from Proto-West Germanic *bītan, from Proto-Germanic *bītaną (“bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“split”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian biete (“bite”), West Frisian bite (“bite”), Dutch bijten (“bite”), German Low German bieten (“bite”), German beißen, beissen (“bite”), Danish bide (“bite”), Swedish bita (“bite”), Norwegian Bokmål bite (“bite”), Norwegian Nynorsk bita (“bite”), Faroese and Icelandic bíta (“bite”), Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan, “bite”), Latin findō (“split”), Ancient Greek φείδομαι (pheídomai), Sanskrit भिद् (bhid, “break”).
As soon as you bite that sandwich, you'll know how good it is.
2
To hold something by clamping one's teeth.
3
To attack with the teeth.
That dog is about to bite!
4
In the negative To behave aggressively; to reject advances.
If you see me, come and say hello. I don't bite.
5
To take hold; to establish firm contact with.
I needed snow chains to make the tires bite.
6
To have significant effect, often negative.
For homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages, rising interest will really bite.
7
Of a fish To bite a baited hook or other lure and thus be caught.
Are the fish biting today?
8
Figuratively To accept something offered, often secretly or deceptively, to cause some action by the acceptor.
I've planted the story. Do you think they'll bite?
9
Of an insect To sting.
These mosquitoes are really biting today!
10
To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent.
It bites like pepper or mustard.
11
Figuratively, Sometimes To cause sharp pain or damage to; to hurt or injure.
Pepper bites the mouth.
[…]froſts doe bite the Meads[…]c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 229, column 1:
12
To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.
At the laſt it [wine] biteth like a ſerpent, and ſtingeth like ‖ an adder.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 23:32, column 1:
13
To take or keep a firm hold.
The anchor bites.
14
To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to.
The anchor bites the ground.
[…]the last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, and it now turned and turned with nothing to bite[…]1859, Charles Dickens, “Fire Rises”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book II (The Golden Thread), page 152:
15
Slang, Stative To lack quality; to be worthy of derision; to suck.
This music really bites.
16
Informal, Vulgar To perform oral sex on. Used in invective.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- Proto-Indo-European *bʰéydt Proto-Germanic *bītaną Proto-West Germanic *bītan Old English bītan Middle English biten English bite From Middle English biten, from Old English bītan (“bite”), from Proto-West Germanic *bītan, from Proto-Germanic *bītaną (“bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“split”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian biete (“bite”), West Frisian bite (“bite”), Dutch bijten (“bite”), German Low German bieten (“bite”), German beißen, beissen (“bite”), Danish bide (“bite”), Swedish bita (“bite”), Norwegian Bokmål bite (“bite”), Norwegian Nynorsk bita (“bite”), Faroese and Icelandic bíta (“bite”), Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan, “bite”), Latin findō (“split”), Ancient Greek φείδομαι (pheídomai), Sanskrit भिद् (bhid, “break”).
[…]I have knowne a very good Fiſher angle diligently four or ſix hours in a day, for three or four dayes together for a River Carp, and not have a bite[…]1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter VIII, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, pages 168–169:
Now trust me when I tell you, young lady, teeth are something you want to take care of. They’re these rare white things that give us pleasure throughout our life. And give us bite. Our inheritance. Our means of survival. Our right to rule. Their enamel is the front line. And that line needs to be won every day.2016, Mark Z. Danielewski, The Familiar, Volume 3: Honeysuckle & Pain, Pantheon Books, →ISBN, page 513:
2
The wound left behind after having been bitten.
That snake bite really hurts!
3
The swelling of one's skin caused by an insect's mouthparts or sting.
After just one night in the jungle I was covered with mosquito bites.
4
A piece of food of a size that would be produced by biting; a mouthful.
There were only a few bites left on the plate.
Not a soul in Corlaix will dare give us bite, sup, or shelter; and we shall die starved in a ditch, all four of us—that much we are our own, but in all else we are Monseigneur’s; all else, I say, all—all.1906, Hamilton Drummond, The Chain of Seven Lives, F. V. White & Co., Ltd., pages 182–183:
In February of this year, 9to5 was forced to lay off four of its paid staff, and began to feel the bite of its high-rent downtown office space.1985 December 7, Sib Connor, “9to5: Still Putting In A Day's Work”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 21, page 2:
I'll have a quick bite to quiet my stomach until dinner.
2 more examples
Wilma, I promise you one thing. Whatever scum is behind this, not a single cop on this police force will have a minute's rest until he's behind bars. Now let's grab a bite to eat.1988, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, spoken by Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen):
Would I take someone here for a first date? No. Would I go here for a cheap bite? Also no...2023 July 21, Billie Schwab Dunn, “I Tried Wetherspoons Food for the First Time-I Feared I'd Get Scurvy...”, in Daily Star:
Kathy Santen is full of bite as the bizarrely seduced Lady Anne, although her exaggerated diction is a bit too snappishly Shakespearean.1996 April 22, Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times:
In Tarabai’s text this exposure is direct, unusually blunt, full of bite and ridicule, and highly polemical.1998, Vidyut Bhagwat, “Pandita Ramabai’s Strī-Dharma Nīti and Tarabai Shinde’s Strī-Puruṣ Tulanā: The Inner Unity of the Texts”, in Anne Feldhaus, editor, Images of Women in Maharashtrian Society, State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 211:
1 more example
City scored the goals but periods of ball possession were shared - the difference being Villa lacked bite in the opposition final third.2011 March 2, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 3 - 0 Aston Villa”, in BBC:
10
The hold which the short end of a lever has upon the thing to be lifted, or the hold which one part of a machine has upon another.
[I]t was conjectured, that Peregrine was a bite from the beginning, who had found credit on account of his effrontery and appearance, and impoſed himſelf upon the town as a young gentleman of fortune.1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “Pickle Seems Tolerably Well Reconciled to His Cage; […] ”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume IV, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 173:
So he went home cursing the Yorkshire bites, and swearing there was no living among them […]1828, The Newcastle Magazine, volume 7, page 85:
13
Media, Printing, Publishing A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.
14
Slang A cut, a proportion of profits; an amount of money.
I know three Americans who are running a bar. The cops come in all the time for a bite.1993, William S. Burroughs, edited by Oliver Harris, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, →ISBN, page 92:
cold open: Starting a TV newscast with video or a bite from the lead story rather than starting with the anchor or the standard show open.2015, Robert A. Papper, Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook: