baits

Word family

• bait
  nounB1
• bait
  verbB2
• baited
  adjectiveB2
• baiting
  nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

When talking about attracting and catching animals, bait, lure, and decoy each have a distinct focus. Bait is the most everyday word and refers to real food — worms, crickets, cut fish — placed on a hook or in a trap. A lure is usually a manufactured fishing tool with built-in hooks, often brightly coloured or shaped like a small fish; the word also extends figuratively to anything that attracts. A decoy is different: it is a fake animal or object (like a wooden duck) used to trick real animals into coming close enough to be shot or caught — it works by visual deception rather than by offering food. Temptation belongs to the figurative world and describes anything that appeals to a person's desires. Think of bait as the worm on a hook, a lure as the shiny artificial fish, and a decoy as the wooden duck floating on a pond.

Common collocations

Etymology

Bait comes from the Old Norse word beita, meaning 'to cause to bite,' which is related to biti ('food' or 'morsel'). The word entered northern English dialects during the Viking Age and spread into wider Middle English. The earliest sense was the verb 'to put food on a hook,' and by the 1400s the noun 'bait' was in common use. The figurative meaning — anything used to entice or provoke — developed by the 15th century. The sense 'to set dogs on an animal' arose from the idea of making dogs bite at a chained creature. The modern meaning 'to tease or annoy someone' appeared by the 1600s, drawing on the image of a person being harassed like a baited animal.