backbite
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backbite
Where it comes from
From Middle English bakbiten, bacbiten, equivalent to back- + bite. Cognate with Icelandic bakbíta (“to backbite, vilify”).
verb backbites · backbiting · backbit · backbitten · back-bite
- 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.
- To attack from behind or when out of earshot with spiteful or defamatory remarks.
- To speak badly of an absent individual.
noun backbites · back-bite
- One who engages in backbiting; a backbiter.
