Word.ws English Dictionary

gristbite

gristbite verb: to gnash one's teeth.

Verb

gristbite (third-person singular simple present gristbites, present participle gristbiting, simple past gristbit, past participle gristbitten or gristbit)

  1. (archaic, dialectal) To gnash one's teeth.
    • Mrs. Tolpedden achieved a dashing cannon, and then gave a miss, at which she "grisbetted", as Milly called it.1866, George Walter Thornbury, Greatheart
    • I’d lean against
      the door and stare out the car window
      terror-stricken in any hairpin turn but
      soon felt my tight gristbit milk teeth
      were set free by laughing through
      each shotgun seat squeeze[…]2017, Ethan Fogus, “Nightdrive”, in How to Make a Mudsparkler, page 8

Forms of gristbite

third-person singular presentgristbites
present participlegristbiting
pastgristbit
past participlegristbitten
past participlegristbit
alternative formgrizbite
alternative formgrisbite
alternative formgrisbet

Origin of gristbite

From Middle English grisbaten, from Old English gristbitian. Equivalent to grist (“to grind”) + bite.

Questions about gristbite

What does gristbite mean?
Gristbite means to gnash one's teeth.
What part of speech is gristbite?
Gristbite is a verb.
What is the past tense of gristbite?
The past tense of gristbite is gristbit.

Words near gristbite in the dictionary

  1. grist
  2. grist for the mill
  3. grist mill
  4. grist mills
  5. grist to the mill
  6. gristbite
  7. gristed
  8. Gristhorpe
  9. gristing
  10. gristle
  11. gristlehead

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gristbite (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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