bearbait
bearbait noun: an instance of bearbaiting.
Noun
bearbait (countable and uncountable, plural bearbaits)
- An instance of bearbaiting.
- Could any thing afford a stronger contrast to the grave and certainly severe study to which Elizabeth had habituated herself, than the vain and fantastic puerility of many of her recreations and habits, the unintellectual brutality of the bearbaits which she admired, or the gaudy and glittering...1840, Elizabeth Stone, Mary Margaret EGERTON (Countess of Wilton.), The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, page 287
- Congleton had a reputation for bearbaiting and went to some lengths to protect it, sending messengers to Knutsford and Bunbury to ensure that the bearwards got to the Congleton bearbait (see pp 639, 653).2007, Lawrence M. Clopper, Elizabeth Baldwin, David Mills, Cheshire Including Chester, page lxxv
- Bait used to lure bears.
- I went first this morning to the carcass of the bison we had killed for bearbait ; I found a bear had been there, and had already had his breakfast.1940, Annals of Wyoming - Volume 12, page 97
- Even with the use of permits and other restrictions, baiting is still widely practiced, as shown by the following quote from T.V. Russell, Supervisor of Shoshone National Forest: "Enclosed is a copy of the bearbait permit we have been issuing on the Shoshone National Forest for the past two years....1974, Defenders of Wildlife -, Defenders of Wildlife News - Volume 49, page 5
- A person or animal that is not very useful or respected.
- The worst ones for straying, curiously enough, were three broken-down old “bearbaits,” which went by themselves, as is generally the case with the cast-off horses of a herd.1892, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine - Volume 44, page 713
- Listen you ol' chunk of bearbait, you get ornery with me and I'll sic Mollie on you again.1996, Matt Braun, Cimarron Jordan, page 89
Verb
bearbait (third-person singular simple present bearbaits, present participle bearbaiting, simple past and past participle bearbaited)
- To torment or provoke.
- Creditors, snarling, hound him on from without; mocked Hopes, lost Labours, bearbait him from within: to these torments his fixed-idea keeps him chained.1857, Thomas Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, page 25
- He used to fight the larger negro boys when they would bearbait dogs by tying tin cans to their tails.1937, Francois De la Roche, Mississippi Mood, page 129
Examples of bearbait in a sentence
- Russell, Supervisor of Shoshone National Forest: "Enclosed is a copy of the bearbait permit we have been issuing on the Shoshone National Forest for the past two years.1974, Defenders of Wildlife -, Defenders of Wildlife News - Volume 49, page 5:
- Horse patrols with Wyoming Game and Fish Department wardens located three illegal bearbait sites; two were located in ldaho and one barely into Wyoming.1976, Endangered Species Technical Bulletin Vol. 1 No.1, page 14:
- That was why they bearbaited him in the first place—they hoped for some uncivilized response they could further ridicule.2016, Grace Callaway, Mayhem in Mayfair Quartet:
Forms of bearbait
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bearbaits |
| alternative form | bear-bait |
| alternative form | bear bait |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bearbaits |
| present participle | bearbaiting |
| past participle | bearbaited |
| past | bearbaited |
Origin of bearbait
From bear + bait.
Questions about bearbait
- What does bearbait mean?
- Bearbait means an instance of bearbaiting.
- How do you use bearbait in a sentence?
- Russell, Supervisor of Shoshone National Forest: "Enclosed is a copy of the bearbait permit we have been issuing on the Shoshone National Forest for the past two years.
- What part of speech is bearbait?
- Bearbait can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of bearbait?
- The plural of bearbait is bearbaits.
Words near bearbait in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bearbait (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “bearbait.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bearbait. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.