I. bait 1 /beɪt/ BrE AmE noun [singular, uncountable]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: beita 'food' ]
1 . food used to attract fish, animals, or birds so that you can catch them:
We used worms as bait.
The fish wouldn’t take the bait.
2 . something attractive that is offered to someone to make them do something or buy something, especially when this is done in a dishonest way that tricks people:
Plenty of people took the bait (=accepted what was on offer) and lost their life savings.
3 . rise to the bait to become angry when someone is deliberately trying to make you angry:
Senator O'Brien just smiled, refusing to rise to the bait.
II. bait 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Sense 1: Date: 1200-1300 ; Origin: ⇨ ↑ bait 1 ]
[ Sense 2-3: Date: 1100-1200 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: beita 'to cause to bite' ]
1 . to put bait on a hook to catch fish or in a trap to catch animals
2 . to deliberately try to make someone angry by criticizing them, using rude names etc
3 . bear-baiting/badger-baiting etc the activity of attacking a wild animal with dogs