source: Bait GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

1. food used to entice fish or other animals as prey:

(釣り針･わなに仕掛ける)えさ, 餌

e.g. herrings make excellent bait for pike

e.g. fishing with live baits.

an allurement; a thing intended to tempt or entice:

おとり; 誘惑するもの

e.g. many potential buyers are reluctant to take the bait

e.g. she used the prospect of freedom as bait to trap him into talking.

2. variant spelling of bate1.

verb with object

1. deliberately annoy or taunt (someone):

(からかったり批判して)〈人〉を怒らせる, いじめる

e.g. the other boys reveled in baiting him about his love of literature.

torment (a trapped or restrained animal), especially by allowing dogs to attack it.

(犬を使って)〈動物〉をいじめる

2. prepare (a hook, trap, net, or fishing area) with bait to entice fish or animals as prey:

【えさを】〈釣り針〉に付ける, 〈わな〉に仕掛ける «with»

e.g. she baited a trap with carrots and corn.

North American informal stop vacillating and act on something or disengage from it:

e.g. when it comes to flagging brands, companies are being forced to fish or cut bait.

react to a provocation or temptation exactly as intended:

e.g. Jenny was being provocatively rude, but he never rose to the bait.

misspelling of with bated breath at bated.

baiter noun

See usage at bated.

Middle English: from Old Norse beit ‘pasture, food’, beita ‘to hunt or chase’.