bait

«bait» in Mova's school dictionary: Food put on a hook or in a trap to catch fish or animals — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (bait, uncountable; a bait, rare); verb (bait, baits, baited, baiting)

meaning for a pupil

1) Food put on a hook or in a trap to catch fish or animals. tree →

2) Something used to tempt a person into a trap or trick. tree →

3) To put bait on a hook or in a trap. tree →

4) To tease or annoy someone on purpose to make them angry. tree →

5) (slang) Obvious, too easy to notice; or clickbait meant to fool you online. tree →

6) Bait can also mean a snack or a light meal, especially one eaten at work or on a journey (old-fashioned). tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life: fishing, mouse traps. Safety: online «bait» or «clickbait» tricks people into clicking; scammers use bait such as free prizes. Phrases: take the bait (fall for the trick), bait and switch, clickbait.

examples

• We used worms as bait to catch fish. tree →
• Dad baited the mousetrap with cheese. tree →
• The free phone offer was just bait to get your details. tree →
• Don't take the bait when he teases you. tree →
• That headline is pure clickbait. tree →
• The bully kept baiting him to start a fight. tree →
• The fish nibbled the bait and swam away. tree →

note

Bait is usually uncountable: some bait, not a bait. Do not confuse with «bate» (in «with bated breath», not baited). Taking the bait = being tricked.

In the corpora

• Mice will eat cheese, but they prefer grains, seeds and sweet foods, so people baiting traps usually use peanut butter.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «bait» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.