backbite
verbEtymology
From Middle English bakbiten, bacbiten, equivalent to back- + bite. Cognate with Icelandic bakbíta (“to backbite, vilify”).
- inherited from bakbiten
Definitions
To make spiteful slanderous or defamatory statements about someone.
- They beguiled the time by backbiting and intriguing against each other in a foolish kind of way.
- Gumshoe: You're not gonna get me to backbite a woman with a whip. No way.
To attack from behind or when out of earshot with spiteful or defamatory remarks.
To speak badly of an absent individual.
›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer
One who engages in backbiting
One who engages in backbiting; a backbiter.
The neighborhood
- neighborbehind someone's back
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for backbite. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA