bearbait

English

Alternative forms

• bear-bait, bear bait

Etymology

From bear +‎ bait.

Noun

bearbait (countable and uncountable, plural bearbaits)

1. An instance of bearbaiting.
   • 1840, Elizabeth Stone, Mary Margaret EGERTON (Countess of Wilton.), The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, page 287:

     Could any thing afford a stronger contrast to the grave and certainly severe study to which Elizabeth had habituated herself, than the vain and fantastic puerility of many of her recreations and habits, the unintellectual brutality of the bearbaits which she admired, or the gaudy and glittering pageants in which she delighted?

   • 2007, Lawrence M. Clopper, Elizabeth Baldwin, David Mills, Cheshire Including Chester, page lxxv:

     Congleton had a reputation for bearbaiting and went to some lengths to protect it, sending messengers to Knutsford and Bunbury to ensure that the bearwards got to the Congleton bearbait (see pp 639, 653).

   • 2014, Richard Preiss, Clowning and Authorship in Early Modern Theatre, page 164:

     A witness to a bearbait in 1575 intriguingly describes the animal's struggle like a kind of dance, who "if he were ta'en once, then by what shift with biting, with clawing, with roaring, with tossing, and tumbling, he would work and wind himself loose from them."

2. Bait used to lure bears.
   • 1940, Annals of Wyoming - Volume 12, page 97:

     I went first this morning to the carcass of the bison we had killed for bearbait ; I found a bear had been there, and had already had his breakfast.

   • 1974, Defenders of Wildlife -, Defenders of Wildlife News - Volume 49, page 5:

     Even with the use of permits and other restrictions, baiting is still widely practiced, as shown by the following quote from T.V. Russell, Supervisor of Shoshone National Forest: "Enclosed is a copy of the bearbait permit we have been issuing on the Shoshone National Forest for the past two years. We have a general guideline that baits must be 2½-3 miles apart.

   • 1976, Endangered Species Technical Bulletin Vol. 1 No.1, page 14:

     Horse patrols with Wyoming Game and Fish Department wardens located three illegal bearbait sites; two were located in ldaho and one barely into Wyoming.

3. A person or animal that is not very useful or respected.
   • 1892, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine - Volume 44, page 713:

     The worst ones for straying, curiously enough, were three broken-down old “bearbaits,” which went by themselves, as is generally the case with the cast-off horses of a herd.

   • 1996, Matt Braun, Cimarron Jordan, page 89:

     Listen you ol' chunk of bearbait, you get ornery with me and I'll sic Mollie on you again.

Verb

bearbait (third-person singular simple present bearbaits, present participle bearbaiting, simple past and past participle bearbaited)

1. To torment or provoke.
   • 1857, Thomas Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, page 25:

     Creditors, snarling, hound him on from without; mocked Hopes, lost Labours, bearbait him from within: to these torments his fixed-idea keeps him chained.

   • 1937, Francois De la Roche, Mississippi Mood, page 129:

     He used to fight the larger negro boys when they would bearbait dogs by tying tin cans to their tails.

   • 2003, Bryan F. Le Beau, The Atheist: Madalyn Murray O'Hair, page 245:

     Talk show hosts bearbaited them, photo editors published unflattering, even demeaning pictures, and the print media ridiculed their intelligence, education, hair, clothing, and personal relationship—rather than addressing the issues.

   • 2016, Grace Callaway, Mayhem in Mayfair Quartet:

     That was why they bearbaited him in the first place—they hoped for some uncivilized response they could further ridicule.