food placed on a hook or in a net, trap, or fishing area to entice fish or other animals as prey An object or organism used to attract an animal; live fish are attached to hooks and used as bait in the tuna fishery
To use something as bait means to use it to trick or persuade someone to do something. Service stations use petrol as a bait to lure motorists into the restaurants and other facilities Television programmes are essentially bait to attract an audience for advertisements
Derived from 'blatant', it is used in place of the word For example, "You're baitly wrong " You always emphasize the 'bait' above any other word in the sentence
The basic format of the yeast-two hybrid system involves the creation of two hybrid molecules, one in which the "bait" protein is fused with a transcription factor, and one in which the "prey" protein is fused with a related transcription factor If the bait and prey proteins indeed interact then the two factors fused to these two proteins are also brought into proximity with each other As a result a specific signal is produced, indicating an interaction has taken place [CHI Proteomics report]
If you bait a hook or trap, you put bait on it or in it. He baited his hook with pie The boys dug pits and baited them so that they could spear their prey
means any substance that attracts fish by scent or flavour and includes a lure to which scent or flavouring has been added (see Fishing with Bait in the General Regulations section)
If you take the bait, you react to something that someone has said or done exactly as they intended you to do. The expression rise to the bait is also used, mainly in British English. When she attempts to make you feel guilty, don't take the bait. Variant of bate
harass with persistent criticism or carping; "The children teased the new teacher"; "Don't ride me so hard over my failure"; "His fellow workers razzed him when he wore a jacket and tie"