backbiter
(ˈbækˌbaɪtə(r))
Forms: see the vb.
[f. backbite v. + -er1.]
One who backbites; a slanderer or secret calumniator.
| c 1230 Ancr. R. 86 Bacbitares þe biteð oðre men bihinden. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶422 The bacbiter wol torne al thilke goodnes up-so-doun. 1440 Promp. Parv. 21/2 Bakke⁓bytere, Detractor. 1509 Barclay Ship of Fooles (1570) ¶¶iv, Backbiters which good liuers diffame. 1627 Sp. without Doors in Rushworth Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 492 Diogenes being asked what beast bit sorest, answered, Of wilde beasts, the Back-biter; of tame, the Flatterer. 1859 Tennyson Vivien 673 Face-flatterers and backbiters are the same. |
b. (word-play): A biter, or striker, on the back.
| 1608 Tourneur Rev. Trag. ii. ii. 58 Sword thou wast neuer a back-biter yet. |