biter

From Middle English biter, bitere, equivalent to bite +‎ -er. Cognate with West Frisian biter (“biter”), Dutch bijter (“biter”), German Low German Bieter (“biter”), German Beißer (“biter”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪtɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪtə/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtə(ɹ)
• Homophone: byter

biter (plural biters)

1. Agent noun of bite; someone or something who bites or tends to bite.

   Not all dogs are biters.

   • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 87:

     My dislike was reinforced in 2016 when researchers discovered that more than three-quarters of the domestic boars and 40 per cent of wild boars they examined had bite injuries to their penises. The photos are horrific. Just who the biters were remains a mystery, but I think something goes wrong when a fundamentally herbivorous creature acquires a taste for flesh.

2. (fishing) A fish that tends to take bait.
   • 2007, John Shewey, On the Fly Guide to the Northwest, page 79:

     She tried the same cast several times. I signaled her to switch flies. After two such changes we still couldn't move the fish. Some steelhead are biters; some are not.

3. (curling) A stone that barely touches the outside of the house.
4. (slang) One who copies someone else's work, style or techniques, especially in hip-hop.
5. (obsolete) A cheat or fraudster.
6. (fiction) A zombie.

From bit +‎ -er.

biter (plural biters)

1. (in combination, computing) Something (a data unit, machine etc.) with a width of a specified amount of bits.
   • 1978, Product Engineering, volume 49, page unknown:

     The first microprocessor was a 4-bit device called the 4004. Today you can buy 1-bit machines, 4-biters, 8-biters, 12-biters and 16-biters. Which one should you buy, and why?

   • 1994 July 22, Jonathan T. Hunt, “ST Star Raiders”, in rec.games.video.atari‎^[1] (Usenet):

     Didn't know it was an 8-biter first, cool. The ST Star Raiders is pretty cool - my fav one yet & worth any $5.

• Berti, Breit, Tiber, rebit, tribe

• IPA^(key): /bi.te/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

biter

1. (transitive, slang) Alternative form of bitter (“to understand”) (usually used in negative form and especially with rien)

From bite.

biter

1. to humiliate, con, dupe, deceive

   Oh putain, il m’a bien bité.

   Oh fuck, he got me good.

(humiliate, con, dupe):

• duper

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

biter

1. to touch

From bite (“to bite”) +‎ -er.

• IPA^(key): /²biːtər/

biter m (definite singular biteren, indefinite plural bitere, definite plural biterne)

1. a biter, someone who bites

• angstbiter
• grinebiter

biter m

1. indefinite plural of bit

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːtər/

biter

1. present tense of bite

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːtər/

biter

1. (non-standard since 2012) present tense of bita

• bitor, bitter, bittor

From Proto-West Germanic *bitr.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbi.ter/

biter (comparative biterra, superlative biterest)

1. bitter (taste etc.)
2. bitter, severe, painful, biting
   • Ic [...] bitre breostceare gebiden hæbbe. ― I have endured bitter heart-pain. (The Seafarer)

• biterlīċe
• biternes

• Middle English: bitter
  • English: bitter
  • Scots: bittir

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʲidʲer/

·biter

1. third-person plural future passive conjunct of benaid

Borrowed from German Bitter.

biter n (uncountable)

1. bitters

From English bitter.

• IPA^(key): /bǐter/
• Hyphenation: bi‧ter

bìter m (Cyrillic spelling бѝтер)

1. bitter (a bitter drink)

From German bitter.

• IPA^(key): /bǐter/
• Hyphenation: bi‧ter

bìter (Cyrillic spelling бѝтер)

1. bitter, sour (of taste)

• “biter”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024
• “biter”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

biter

1. present indicative of bita

• Berit

biter

1. third-person singular indicative aorist of bitmek