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Bait vs Bate - What's the difference?

bait | bate |

In transitive terms the difference between bait and bate

is that bait is to intentionally annoy, torment, or threaten by constant rebukes or threats; to harass while bate is to soak leather so as to remove chemicals used in tanning; to steep in bate.

In intransitive terms the difference between bait and bate

is that bait is of a horse or other animal: to take food, especially during a journey while bate is to contend or strive with blows or arguments.

bait

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) bait, beite, from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • Any substance, especially food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, trap, or net.
  • Food containing poison or a harmful additive to kill animals that are pests.
  • Anything which allures; a lure; enticement; temptation.
  • (Fairfax)
  • A portion of food or drink, as a refreshment taken on a journey; also, a stop for rest and refreshment.
  • A light or hasty luncheon.
  • Usage notes
    Used in Geordie dialect of English to denote your lunch at work as opposed to other meals. Also used in East Anglian dialect of English to denote a small meal taken mid-morning while farming, and in the North of England to denote a snack taken by miners to eat while working.
    Derived terms
    * baiting * flamebait * jailbait * shark bait
    References
    * * * * *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To attract with bait; to entice.
  • To affix bait to a trap or a fishing hook or fishing line.
  • * Washington Irving
  • a crooked pin bailed with a vile earthworm
    Usage notes
    * This verb is sometimes confused in writing with the rare verb (bate), which is pronounced identically; in particular, the expression (with bated breath) is frequently misspelled *(term) by writers unfamiliar with the verb (bate).

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) baiten, beiten, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To set dogs on (an animal etc.) to bite or worry; to attack with dogs, especially for sport.
  • :to bait''' a bear with dogs;  to '''bait a bull
  • To intentionally annoy, torment, or threaten by constant rebukes or threats; to harass.
  • To feed and water (a horse or other animal), especially during a journey.
  • *, Bk.V, Ch.ix:
  • *:And than they com into a lowe medow that was full of swete floures, and there thes noble knyghtes bayted her horses.
  • Of a horse or other animal: to take food, especially during a journey.
  • *, II.22:
  • *:King Cyrus , that he might more speedily receave news from al parts of his Empire (which was of exceeding great length), would needs have it tried how far a horse could in a day goe outright without baiting , at which distance he caused stations to be set up, and men to have fresh horses ready for al such as came to him.
  • To stop to take a portion of food and drink for refreshment during a journey.
  • *Milton
  • *:Evil news rides post, while good news baits .
  • *Evelyn
  • *:My lord's coach conveyed me to Bury, and thence baiting at Newmarket.
  • See also
    *

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) battre de l'aile'' or ''des ailes , to flap or flutter.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To flap the wings; to flutter as if to fly; or to hover, as a hawk when she stoops to her prey.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Kites that bait and beat.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    bate

    English

    Etymology 1

    Aphetic from (abate).

    Verb

    (bat)
  • To reduce the force of something; to abate.
  • * Dryden
  • Abate thy speed, and I will bate of mine.
  • To restrain, usually with the sense of being in anticipation; as, with bated breath .
  • (transitive, sometimes, figuratively) To cut off, remove, take away.
  • * Dr. Henry More, Government of the Tongue :
  • He will not bate an ace of absolute certainty.
  • * Holland
  • About autumn bate the earth from about the roots of olives, and lay them bare.
  • (archaic) To leave out, except, bar.
  • * 1610 , , act 2, scene 1:
  • (Sebastian) "Bate , I beseech you, widow Dido."
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Bate me the king, and, be he flesh and blood, / He lies that says it.
  • To waste away.
  • * 1597 , , act 3, scene 3:
  • (Falstaff) "Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since this last action? do I not bate ? do I not dwindle?"
  • To deprive of.
  • * Herbert
  • When baseness is exalted, do not bate / The place its honour for the person's sake.
  • To lessen by retrenching, deducting, or reducing; to abate; to beat down; to lower.
  • * John Locke
  • He must either bate the labourer's wages, or not employ or not pay him.
  • To allow by way of abatement or deduction.
  • * South
  • to whom he bates nothing or what he stood upon with the parliament

    References

    * 1897 Universal Dictionary of the English Language , Robert Hunter and Charles Morris (editors), volume 1, page 459.

    Etymology 2

    * Noun: From the verb, or directly from the noun (debate). * Verb: From Anglo-Saxon = contention. From (etyl) batre (French battre). From batere.

    Noun

    (-)
  • Strife; contention.
  • * 1598, William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part 2 :
  • ... and wears his boots very smooth, like unto the sign of the leg, and breeds no bate with telling of discreet stories;
  • * 1888, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night (Arabian Nights)
  • So the strife redoubled and the weapons together clashed and ceased not bate and debate and naught was to be seen but blood flowing and necks bowing;
  • * 1911, H.G. Wells, The New Machiavelli :
  • The other merely needs jealousy and bate , of which there are great and easily accessible reservoirs in every human heart.

    Verb

    (bat)
  • To contend or strive with blows or arguments.
  • (falconry) Of a falcon: To flap the wings vigorously; to bait.
  • (Francis Bacon)

    See also

    * (to contend or strive with blows or arguments) bait.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An alkaline lye which neutralizes the effect of the previous application of lime, and makes hides supple in the process of tanning.
  • A vat which contains this liquid.
  • Verb

    (bat)
  • To soak leather so as to remove chemicals used in tanning; to steep in bate.
  • References

    * 1897 Universal Dictionary of the English Language , Robert Hunter and Charles Morris (editors), volume 1, page 459.

    Etymology 4

    Formed by analogy with eat ? ate, with which it shares an analogous past participle (eaten ? beaten).

    Verb

    (head)
  • (nonstandard) (beat); = beat.
  • * 2008 October 20th, , episode 5: “The Euclid Alternative”
  • . Goodnight.

    Etymology 5

    Shortening of (m).

    Verb

    (bat)
  • (slang) To masturbate.