bait

Multiple Entries:
  bait    bate  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bait/beɪt/

▶noun

• 1 food used to entice fish or other animals as prey.

• 2 variant spelling of bate1.

▶verb

• 1 deliberately annoy or taunt.

• 2 allow dogs to attack (a trapped or restrained animal).

• 3 put bait on (a hook) or in (a trap, net, etc.).

– phrases
rise to the bait react to a provocation or temptation exactly as intended.

– origin ME: from ON beit ‘pasture, food’, beita ‘to hunt or chase’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bate1 (also bait)

▶noun Brit. informal, dated an angry mood.

– origin C19: from bait in the sense ‘torment’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bate2

▶verb Falconry (of a hawk) beat the wings in agitation and flutter off the perch.

– origin ME: from OFr. batre ‘to beat’ (see also batter1).