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The Collaborative International Dictionary
To bite the tongue

Bite \Bite\ (b[imac]t), v. t. [imp. Bit (b[i^]t); p. p. Bitten (b[i^]t"t'n), 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.

  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.