redbait

English

Etymology

From red +‎ bait.

Verb

redbait (third-person singular simple present redbaits, present participle redbaiting, simple past and past participle redbaited)

1. (US, transitive) To attack by denouncing as a Communist.
   • 2007 September 9, David Corn, “Collision Course”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     While Jack Kennedy thrived in the 1950s as a sex-crazed, drug-dependent, ailment-ridden party-boy politician, Bobby, the family’s complicated sourpuss, hooked up with the redbaiting Joe McCarthy, then spun off as a crusading and corners-cutting scourge of labor corruption.

Alternative forms

• red-bait

Noun

redbait (plural redbait)

1. A fish, Emmelichthys nitidus
2. Pyura stolonifera, an ascidian often used as bait by anglers.

Anagrams

• bitrade, tribade