biting

Pluralbitings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of bite.

   The horse kept biting at the fence post out of boredom.

   She is biting into the apple before the photographer is ready.

   Note

   With be it builds the progressive (the dog is biting). In a noun slot the same spelling works as a gerund (biting your nails is hard to stop). Because bite can stand without an object, the form often appears alone or with at, and it can mean taking real effect: the new tax is finally biting. If it accepts more or very, as in a more biting wind, it has become the adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Producing a sharp, stinging sensation, as from cold or wind.

   The biting frost numbed his fingers within minutes of the climb.

   A biting chill swept through the mountain pass at dawn.

   Similarbitter, piercing, sharp, raw

   Oppositemild

3. 3
   adjective

   Sharply critical or sarcastic; cutting in tone or wit.

   The critic's biting review demolished the new play overnight.

   She delivered a biting satire of corporate office life.

   Similarscathing, cutting, caustic, acerbic, sarcastic

   Oppositegentle

   Note

   The figurative edge of the word: criticism, satire or wit that wounds the way the stinging cold hurts the skin. It pairs naturally with words for speech and writing, as in biting criticism, a biting review and biting satire, and it takes more and most freely (a more biting review). Cutting and incisive are close neighbors, but biting adds the sense of pain felt by the target.

4. 4
   adjective

   Inclined or likely to bite, as certain animals or insects.

   Biting flies tormented the cattle throughout the summer.

   Their dog has a biting habit that the family is trying to correct.

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   An occasion on which a person, animal, or thing is bitten.

   The repeated biting of the leash eventually frayed it apart.

   A nervous biting of her nails gave away her stress before the interview.

6. 6
   nounKenyacountable

   A small, bite-sized snack eaten in a single mouthful.

   He grabbed a biting from the tray as he passed the kitchen.

   The café offers an assortment of sweet bitings with afternoon tea.

   Similarsnack, morsel, nibble

   Note

   A Kenyan English word, and one an outsider may not expect: here the noun made from bite names the food, not the act. It usually travels in the plural beside drinks or snacks: guests get drinks and bitings before dinner, and a café serves full meals and snacks or bitings. Elsewhere listeners will assume the act of being bitten, so outside Kenya, snack is the safer word.

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