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biter

biter

28 5.3
A person, animal, or insect that hurts others with its teeth
  • noun
  • /ˈbaɪtər/
translation icon : mordedor
  • After the incident with the cat, I warned my friends not to approach the biter again.
  • nail biter
  • ankle biter
  • pillow biter

No, but like, there's biters and there's suckers.

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Examples

  • Was she not the greatest biter in her school?

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Watch out, we got a biter!

  • I did, but Roberto was a biter, and biters really turn me off.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • He's a biter.

  • The mechanisms that inhibit host-seeking after a blood meal are indeed less developed in night biters than in day biters.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Be careful; that dog is a known biter and might nip at strangers.

  • The toddler is a real biter; he keeps biting his toys whenever he's upset.

Synonyms

nibbler
vsbiter
3 7.2

A person or animal that eats small bites again and again

bites harder or is likely to bite rather than take small repeated bites

Compounds

nail-biter
  • Informal
7 5.2

A situation that makes people very nervous because the result is uncertain

sheep-biter
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A person who steals sheep and tricks other people

9.9

A rude word for a man who is gay

tyre biter
  • Slang
9.9

An animal or person who chews and damages car tyres, sometimes used to mean a troublesome person

How Forceful

gnawer
1 8.1
biter
28 5.3
nibbler
3 7.2
licker
11 4.9

Surface Forms

biter singular
biters plural

Morphology

biter = bite (transparent) = bite + er

Standard agentive formation from the verb 'bite' to mean 'one who bites', readily inferable by learners.

Etymology

The word biter starts from the simple verb bite, an old word meaning 'to cut or hold with the teeth'. It adds the ending -er meaning 'one who', like in baker, so a biter is literally 'one who bites'.