bait
noun
[ beɪt ]
• food placed on a hook or in a net, trap, or fishing area to entice fish or other animals as prey.
• "herrings make excellent bait for pike"
• variant spelling of bate1.
bait
verb
• deliberately annoy or taunt (someone).
• "the other boys revelled in baiting him about his love of literature"
Similar:
taunt,
goad,
provoke,
pick on,
torment,
torture,
persecute,
badger,
plague,
harry,
harass,
hound,
tease,
annoy,
irritate,
get someone's back up,
hassle,
needle,
give someone a hard time,
wind up,
nark,
• put bait on (a hook) or in (a trap, net, or fishing area) to entice fish or animals.
• "I used a hook baited with fat"
Origin:
Middle English: from Old Norse beit ‘pasture, food’, beita ‘to hunt or chase’.
bate
noun
• an angry mood.
• "he got into a stinking bate"
Origin:
mid 19th century: from the verb bait ‘torment’, expressing the notion ‘state of a baited person’.
