Lexic.us

Definition of Backbite

1. Verb. Say mean things.

Definition of Backbite

1. v. t. To wound by clandestine detraction; to censure meanly or spitefully (an absent person); to slander or speak evil of (one absent).

2. v. i. To censure or revile the absent.

Definition of Backbite

1. Verb. To make spiteful slanderous or defamatory statements about someone. ¹

2. Verb. (informal) To attack from behind or when out of earshot. ¹

3. Verb. To speak badly of an absent individual. ¹

4. Noun. One who engages in backbiting; a backbiter. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Backbite

1. to slander [v -BIT, -BITTEN, -BITING, -BITES] - See also: slander

Lexicographical Neighbors of Backbite

Literary usage of Backbite

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Abaddon's Steam Engine, Calumny, Delineated: Being an Attempt to Stop Its by Lover of mercy rejoicing over judgement, Richard Ferguson (1817)
"... v. to backbite, to slander. The Teutonic, or ancient German word Ver- ... to backbite, slander, defame, calumniate, asperse, detract, or traduce one, ..."

2. English Actors from Shakespeare to Macready by Henry Barton Baker (1879)
"... the Sir Oliver— Died of Stewed Eels—Baddeley, the Moses—His Bequests—Parsons, the Crabtree—A Romantic Marriage—Dodd, the Sir Benjamin backbite—Farren— ..."

3. Hours with the Players by Dutton Cook (1883)
""SIR BENJAMIN backbite." THE gardens of Gray's Inn, as Charles Lamb knew them at the close of the last century, were of far more importance and extent than ..."

4. English Actors from Shakespeare to Macready by Henry Barton Baker (1879)
"... Died of Stewed Eels—Baddeley, the Moses—His Bequests—Parsons, the Crabtree—A Romantic Marriage—Dodd, the Sir Benjamin backbite—Farren— ..."

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