Word.ws English Dictionary

biting one's lip

biting one's lip is the present participle and gerund 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 biting one's lip

What is biting one's lip the present participle and gerund of?
Biting one's lip is the present participle and gerund of bite one's lip.

Words near biting one's lip in the dictionary

  1. biting midge
  2. biting midges
  3. biting off
  4. biting off more than one can chew
  5. biting on granite
  6. biting one's lip
  7. biting one's nails
  8. biting one's thumb
  9. biting one's tongue
  10. biting point
  11. biting points

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: biting 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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