Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Bite \Bite\, v. t. [imp. {Bit}; p. p. {Bitten}, {Bit}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Biting}.] [OE. biten, AS. b[=i]tan; akin to D.
   bijten, OS. b[=i]tan, OHG. b[=i]zan, G. beissen, Goth.
   beitan, Icel. b[=i]ta, Sw. bita, Dan. bide, L. findere to
   cleave, Skr. bhid to cleave. [root]87. 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} (any one), 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.