bite

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To cut into or grip something with your teeth.

   As soon as you bite that sandwich, you'll know how good it is.

2. 2
   verb

   To attack a person or animal with the teeth.

   Be careful, that dog might bite!

3. 3
   verb

   To sting, the way an insect does.

   The mosquitoes bit me all over my legs.

4. 4
   noun

   An act of taking the bait by a fish when you are fishing.

   After an hour of fishing, I still hadn't had a single bite.

Common collocations

• biting wind Adjective + noun
• insect bite Noun + noun
• bite off Verb + adverb

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”), Icelandic bíta (“bite”), Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan, “bite”), Latin findō (“split”), Ancient Greek φείδομαι (pheídomai), Sanskrit भिद् (bhid, “break”)…

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images