bite

Less common meanings

13. 13
    fishingverbintransitive

    Of a fish, to take a baited hook or lure into its mouth.

    The bass bite best just after dawn.

    Nothing was biting despite the fresh bait.

    UsageOften in the progressive: the fish aren't biting, nothing was biting.

14. 14
    fall forverbfigurativelyintransitive

    To accept something offered, often as a trick, so as to be drawn into an action.

    Investors finally bit when the returns looked too good to refuse.

    He kept dangling the offer, hoping someone would bite.

    UsageIn conversation, OK, I'll bite can introduce the question someone has prompted you to ask: What's the secret?

    Note

    The angler's metaphor carried into scheming and selling: a planted story, a dangled offer, and the question of whether they'll bite. The picture is a fish taking the lure, with the target cast as the fish. That is why the word hints that the offer hides a hook. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The figurative sense derives from the image of a fish taking bait. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    sharp painverbintransitive

    To cause sharp pain, hurt, or damage to someone or something.

    Criticism from old friends can bite harder than anything a stranger says.

    The icy air bit at their faces all the way up the ridge.

    Similarsting, hurt, nip, cut

    Note

    The King James Bible of 1611 says of wine that at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. The line shows the sense pairing naturally with sting, and it shades from bodily pain into the anguish that follows excess. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
    • The King James Bible contains the quoted wording, pairing biteth with stingeth. en.wikisource.org
    • The passage concerns wine and the suffering associated with excessive drinking. en.wikisource.org
16. 16
    be lousyverbslangintransitive

    To be of poor quality; to be contemptibly bad.

    Group projects bite when no one does their share.

    His new attitude really bites.

    UsageMeans about the same as sucks: this really bites.

    Similarsuck, stink

    Oppositerock

    Note

    Slang that passes judgment and stops there: this music really bites calls it bad without saying why. It is a near synonym of suck and takes no object, so homework, cheap headphones or a group project can simply bite. It describes a state rather than an action and is often backed up by really or totally.

17. 17
    rude insultverbvulgarcolloquialtransitive

    To perform oral sex on; used chiefly in invective as a contemptuous dismissal.

    When they mocked his idea, he told them all to bite him.

    Frustrated by the jeering crowd, she yelled at them to bite her.

    UsageNearly always just bite me, said back to a complaint or criticism.

    Note

    In practice it means "I don't care what you think" far more than it proposes anything literal. It is usually said as a short retort, bite me, to someone who mocks or criticizes the speaker. It is vulgar and informal, a rude dismissal rather than a request, so it belongs only in heated or joking talk.

18. 18
    snap at peopleverbintransitive

    To act aggressively or coldly, rebuffing others' approaches.

    Go ahead and ask; the boss doesn't bite.

    Our new boss looks stern, but you can knock on her door with questions; she doesn't bite.

    UsageMostly in the negative, to reassure: she doesn't bite, I won't bite.

    Similarsnap

    Note

    It reassures a hesitant person that coming over or asking a question is safe. The picture is a dog that will not snap at an outstretched hand.

19. 19
    hold fastverbintransitive

    To take or keep a firm hold without slipping.

    The crampons bite into the ice with every step.

    Give the line a hard tug so the knot bites and won't slip under load.

    Similargrip, catch, hold

    Oppositeslip

20. 20
    taste sharpverbintransitive

    To cause a sharp, smarting sensation; to be pungent.

    The homemade horseradish bit so sharply that my eyes began to water.

    Cheap vinegar tends to bite harder than the aged kind.

    Similarburn, sting

21. 21
    share of moneynounslangcountable or uncountable

    A share or portion of money, especially one taken from a larger sum.

    The agent's commission was a sizable bite of the profits.

    The repairs took a nasty bite out of their budget.

    UsageUsually a bite of the profits, or take a big bite out of savings or a budget.

    Similarchunk, slice, share, cut, portion

    Note

    Slang for money taken off the top, often as a payoff. William S. Burroughs writes in his letters of Americans running a bar where the cops come in all the time for a bite. The image is someone taking a mouthful from another's plate. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • William S. Burroughs writes in his letters about Americans running a bar where police repeatedly come for a bite. en.wiktionary.org
22. 22
    copy othersverbslangintransitive

    To copy another's style or work rather than create something original.

    Real artists create; they never bite.

    Critics accused the group of biting rather than innovating.

    Similarcopy, imitate, plagiarize

    Oppositeinnovate

    Note

    African-American Vernacular slang for copying someone else's style: he always be biting my moves. The habitual be in that line fits the variety, marking something done again and again. The charge concerns originality, not stolen property, and it can stand alone or take the thing copied as its object. A single act of copying is the matching slang noun. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The copying sense of bite is African-American Vernacular slang. en.wiktionary.org
    • Habitual be fits this example and marks repeated action. ygdp.yale.edu
    • There is a corresponding slang noun meaning an act of copying. en.wiktionary.org
23. 23
    a copynounslangcountable or uncountable

    An act of copying another's work or style and presenting it as one's own.

    Listeners dismissed the track as a shameless bite.

    The poster was an obvious bite of a classic album cover.

    UsageUsually a bite of the original: that song is a bite of an older hit.

    Similarrip-off, copy, knockoff, imitation

    Note

    The noun for a single act of copying, built on the slang verb. A track, a poster or a hook can all be called a bite, and calling it one is always an accusation, never a compliment. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The slang noun denotes an act of copying. en.wiktionary.org
24. 24
    a hasslenounslangcountable or uncountable

    An unpleasant or annoying turn of events.

    Similarbummer, drag, pain

    Note

    Slang for whatever stings in daily life. It often appears as the bite of something, felt by whoever has to pay. Sib Connor, writing in Gay Community News in 1985, describes an organization beginning to feel the bite of its high-rent downtown office space. As a complaint, a real bite sits close to the verb meaning "to be bad". Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The cited Gay Community News issue was published in 1985. lgbtqahistory.library.northeastern.edu
    • Sib Connor describes an organization beginning to feel the financial burden of its downtown office rent; Wiktionary attributes the passage to Connor's article about 9to5. en.wiktionary.org
25. 25
    scamnoundatedcountable or uncountable

    A trick, swindle, or fraud designed to cheat someone out of money or goods.

    The baser methods of getting money by fraud and bite, by deceiving and overreaching.

    1725, Thomas Gordon, The Humorist

    Similarswindle, fraud, scam, con, hoax

    Note

    Eighteenth-century talk of cheating used it freely. Thomas Gordon's The Humourist speaks of getting money by fraud and bite, by deceiving and overreaching, with bite uncountable beside fraud. It went with an old verb bite, meaning to cheat. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • An obsolete verb 'bite' meant to cheat. en.wiktionary.org
26. 26
    verbobsolete

    To trick or swindle someone.
27. 27
    noundated

    A swindler or trickster who cons people.

    [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; ”
28. 28
    noun

    A blank spot near a printed page's margin or corner, caused when the frisket or another object got between the inked type and the sheet.
29. 29
    noun

    The grip a spinner's delivery gets on the playing surface, making it turn sharply after it lands.