Any substance for food, proper to be used or actually used, to catch fish, or other animals, by alluring them to swallow a hook, or to be caught in snares, or in an inclosure or net.

A portion of food and drink, or a refreshment taken on a journey.

An allurement; enticement; temptation.

To put meat on a hook or line, or in an inclosure, or among snares, to allure fish, fowls and other animals into human power.

To give a portion of food and drink to man or beast upon the road; as, to bait horses.

To take a portion of food and drink for refreshment on a journey; as, we stopped to bait.

To provoke and harass by dogs; to harass by the help of others; as, to bait a bull or a boar.

To attack with violence; to harass in the manner of small animals.

To clap the wings; to flutter as if to fly; or to hover as a hawk, when she stoops to her prey.

White Bait, a small fish of the Thames.