bitten the hand that fed one
bitten the hand that fed one is the past participle of bite the hand that feeds one.
Meaning of bite the hand that feeds one
Verb
bite the hand that feeds one (third-person singular simple present bites the hand that feeds one, present participle biting the hand that feeds one, simple past bit the hand that fed one, past participle bitten the hand that fed one)
- To cause harm to a benefactor (especially one that one is dependent on, thus with the idea that this behaviour is self-damaging).
- Granted that it is not "exquisitely rational" to bite the hand that feeds you, yet that is just what clients and patients do which is one reason they need therapy.1967, Rollo May, Psychology and the Human Dilemma, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 18
Questions about bitten the hand that fed one
- What is bitten the hand that fed one the past participle of?
- Bitten the hand that fed one is the past participle of bite the hand that feeds one.
Words near bitten the hand that fed one in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bitten the hand that fed one (page history and authors); bite the hand that feeds one (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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