Word.ws English Dictionary

bit one's lip

bit one's lip is the simple past of bite one's lip.

Meaning of bite one's lip

Verb

bite one's lip (third-person singular simple present bites one's lip, present participle biting one's lip, simple past bit one's lip, past participle bitten one's lip)

  1. (idiomatic) To forcibly prevent oneself from speaking, especially in order to avoid saying something inappropriate or likely to cause a dispute.
    • Buckingham bit his lip, for he saw the introduction of Lady Derby was likely to confuse and embroil every preparation which he had arranged for his defence; […]1822, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 304

Questions about bit one's lip

What is bit one's lip the simple past of?
Bit one's lip is the simple past of bite one's lip.

Words near bit one's lip in the dictionary

  1. bit of stuff
  2. bit off
  3. bit off more than one could chew
  4. bit on granite
  5. bit on the side
  6. bit one's lip
  7. bit one's nails
  8. bit one's thumb
  9. bit one's tongue
  10. bit part
  11. bit parts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bit one's lip (page history and authors); bite one's lip (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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