Bitake to Bivouac
Bitake
(Bi*take") v. t. [See Betake, Betaught.] To commend; to commit. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Bitangent
(Bi*tan"gent) a. [Pref. bi- + tangent.] (Geom.) Possessing the property of touching at two
points. — n. A line that touches a curve in two points.
Bitartrate
(Bi*tar"trate) n. (Chem.) A salt of tartaric acid in which the base replaces but half the acid
hydrogen; an acid tartrate, as cream of tartar.
Bitch
(Bitch) n. [OE. biche, bicche, AS. bicce; cf. Icel. bikkja, G. betze, peize.]
1. The female of the canine kind, as of the dog, wolf, and fox.
2. An opprobrious name for a woman, especially a lewd woman. Pope.
Bite
(Bite) v. t. [imp. Bit ; p. p. Bitten Bit; p. pr. & vb. n. Biting.] [OE. biten, AS. bitan; akin to
D. bijten, OS. bitan, OHG. bizan, G. beissen, Goth. beitan, Icel. bita, Sw. bita, Dan. bide, L.
findere to cleave, Skr. bhid to cleave. &radic87. Cf. Fissure.]
1. To seize with the teeth, so that they enter or nip the thing seized; to lacerate, crush, or wound with
the teeth; as, to bite an apple; to bite a crust; the dog bit a man.
Such smiling rogues as these,
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain.
Shak.
2. To puncture, abrade, or sting with an organ (of some insects) used in taking food.
3. To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites
the mouth. "Frosts do bite the meads." Shak.
4. To cheat; to trick; to take in. [Colloq.] Pope.
5. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to; as, the anchor bites the ground.
The last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, . . . it turned and
turned with nothing to bite.
Dickens.
To bite the dust, To bite the ground, to fall in the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the
dust. — To bite in (Etching), to corrode or eat into metallic plates by means of an acid. — To bite
the thumb at formerly a mark of contempt, designed to provoke a quarrel; to defy. "Do you bite your
thumb at us?" Shak. — To bite the tongue, to keep silence. Shak.
Bite
(Bite) v. i.
1. To seize something forcibly with the teeth; to wound with the teeth; to have the habit of so doing; as,
does the dog bite?
2. To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent; as,
it bites like pepper or mustard.
3. To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.
At the last it [wine] biteth like serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Prov. xxiii. 32.
4. To take a bait into the mouth, as a fish does; hence, to take a tempting offer.
5. To take or keep a firm hold; as, the anchor bites.
