▪ I. baiting, vbl. n.
(ˈbeɪtɪŋ)
[f. bait v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of setting on dogs to worry a chained or confined animal; formerly, also, the hunting or chasing of wild animals with dogs. Often in comb.: see badger, bear, bull.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 199 Of liouns chase, of beore baityng. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 29 Beytynge of bestys wyth howndys. Exagitacio. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xvii, In those great Amphitheaters, were exhibited..their baitings of wild beasts. 1768 Boswell Corsica (ed. 2) 318, I have seen a Corsican in the very heat of a baiting..drive off the dogs. |
b. fig. The action of worrying and harassing; persistent annoyance, persecution, torment.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 10895 He shal hem chastyse wyþ smert speche, Wyþ small baytinges ande nat wyþ wreche. a 1643 H. Burton (title) The Baiting of the Pope's Bvll. a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. V. 243 Mortified and intimidated by the baiting of the last session. |
c. attrib., as in baiting-house, baiting-place, baiting-stake.
| 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 150 Wee'l bate thy Bears to death..If thou dar'st bring them to the bayting place. 1689 Pol. Ballads (1860) II. 3 (title), Rome in an Uproar; or, the Pope's Bulls brought to the baiting-stake. |
2. The action of giving food to horses, or of taking wayside refreshment, upon a journey.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 29 Beytynge of horse, Pabulacio. 1513 More Rich. III (1641) 355 Never resting nor themselves refreshing, except the bayting of their horses. 1655 W. Mewe in Hartlib Ref. Commw. Bees 47 Travellers, that have benighted themselves by their frolick baitings. 1884 Harper's Mag. Oct. 728/2 Hay..for the baiting of the horses. |
b. The place at which, or occasion when, a halt is made for refreshment on a journey.
| 1475 Caxton Jason 37 b, Quene Myrro..taried than not longe at that bayting. 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) I. iv. 14 Mr. Fenwick attended us to our first baiting. |
c. attrib., as in baiting-place, baiting-season, baiting-town.
| 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. Introd. (1847) 15 The Court is the bayting place of hell. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 509 The next stations and baiting townes. a 1639 Whateley Prototypes i. iv. (1640) 47 This [world] is a baiting-place and not a place of habitation. 1872 Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lakes (1879) 55 The Wool-Pack Inn, a snug little baiting place. |
3. The action of furnishing (a hook, trap, etc.), or of strewing a fishing-ground, with bait.
| 1653 Walton Angler 153 This direction for the baiting your ledger hook. 1867 F. Francis Angling ii. (1880) 71 To repeat the baitings..two or three times. |
b. attrib., as in baiting-needle, baiting-place.
| 1708 Proclam. in Lond. Gaz. No. 4452/2 So as to Annoy the Haling of Sayns in the usual Baiting Places. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. v. iii. §10 The gimp is passed under a good broad strip of skin with the baiting-needle. |
▪ II. † ˈbaiting, ppl. a. Obs. rare.
[f. bait v. + -ing2.]
That baits: worrying; enticing, attractive.
| 1585 Queen Elizabeth in Four C. Eng. Lett. 29 Some ennemis..shal loose muche travel, with making frustrat thar baiting stratagems. 1663 Sir G. Mackenzie Relig. Stoic. xv. (1658) 137 Far more baiting, seeing it appeared with all the charms. |