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    bait
    [bāt]
    noun
    bait (noun) · baits (plural noun)
    1. food used to entice fish or other animals as prey:
      "herrings make excellent bait for pike" · "fishing with live baits"
      • an allurement; a thing intended to tempt or entice:
        "many potential buyers are reluctant to take the bait" · "she used the prospect of freedom as bait to trap him into talking"
    2. variant spelling of bate
    verb
    bait (verb) · baits (third person present) · baited (past tense) · baited (past participle) · baiting (present participle)
    1. deliberately annoy or taunt (someone):
      "the other boys reveled in baiting him about his love of literature"
      • torment (a trapped or restrained animal), especially by allowing dogs to attack it:
        "people who bait badgers"
    2. prepare (a hook, trap, net, or fishing area) with bait to entice fish or animals as prey:
      "she baited a trap with carrots and corn"
    Origin
    Middle English: from Old Norse beit ‘pasture, food’, beita ‘to hunt or chase’.
    bate
    [bāt]
    noun
    bait (noun)
    1. 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’.
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