bearbaiting

English

bearbaiting

Alternative forms

• bear-baiting, bear baiting

Etymology

From Middle English bere baityng; equivalent to bear +‎ baiting or bearbait +‎ -ing.

Noun

bearbaiting (countable and uncountable, plural bearbaitings)

1. A blood sport in which dogs are set upon a chained bear
   • 1858, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England‎^[1]:

     But bearbaiting, then a favourite diversion of high and low, was the abomination which most strongly stirred the wrath of the austere sectaries.

   • 1900, Mary Johnston, To Have and To Hold‎^[2]:

     By this the whole matter had presented itself to them as an entertainment more diverting than bullfight or bearbaiting.

2. (figurative) A bloodthirsty free for all.
   • 1977, The Journalism Quarterly - Volume 54, page 454:

     All of these pivoted on the larger Problems: Not only how the press should discuss sexual morality of public officials but whether this ever should be a measure of fitness for public office; not only how the local press will allow its judgment to be pre-empted or conditioned by the Washington press, but also how news judgments, always contagious, can degenerate into bear baiting.

   • 1983, Editorials on File - Volume 14, Part 2, page 774:

     But that's not the worst part of the phenomenon that the press conference bearbaiting illustrates.

   • 1987, New Quest - Issues 61-66, page 102:

     ...recalls a typical scene of bear-baiting, the news-hounds tearing away at her flesh with those sex-hungry looks and sexually inquisitive questions.

   • 1995 December 15, Lee Sandlin, “Watch Yourself”, in Chicago Reader‎^[3]:

     Granted, it wasn't that much of a reach to line up panels of Wal-Mart gross-outs for that bearbaiting audience of hers to hoot and gibber at; and it's also true that her guests, more than those on other shows, do routinely show up for the taping in outfits so grotesque they can turn unwary spectators to stone.

   • 2003, Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time, →ISBN, page 497:

     He would pause outside the courtroom just long enough to give the TV press five minutes of crazed rhetoric for the Evening News, then he would shepherd his equally crazed 'clients' into the courtroom for their daily war-circus with the Judge. When you get into bear baiting on that level, paranoia is just another word for ignorance. ... They really are out to get you.

   • 2014, Donald McRae, Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing, →ISBN:

     Tyson took the hint and stood up in his brash white suit. He waved lamely and accepted questions from a group of people which the New York Daily News ridiculed as 'sycophants and psycho fans'. It made a change from the usual bear-baiting boxing-press jamborees in Vegas.

See also

• poke the bear

Verb

bearbaiting

1. present participle and gerund of bearbait

Further reading

• bearbaiting on Wikipedia.Wikipedia