bait

C2+ Topic:Food & Drink

US /beɪt/ UK /beɪt/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like bet /ɛ/ vs /eɪ/

Meanings

1

noun
food or a lure used to entice prey; to torment or provoke

He fixed a worm to the hook as bait.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · food or a lure used to... lure decoy enticement provoke tease torment

Opposites

soothe pacify

Word family

Derived forms baiterbaiting

Related forms bite abet

Appears in

Idioms (1)

See all

fish or cut bait
choose between taking useful action and stepping aside

Etymology

From Old Norse beita ('to cause to bite, hunt with dogs'), causative of bíta ('to bite'); related to Old English bītan.

beita Old Norse *bītaną Proto-Germanic *bʰeyd- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

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