BACKBITE DEFINITIONS - 10 definitions found
backbite v 1: say mean things [syn: backbite, bitch] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) backbite verb (-bit; -bitten; -biting) Date: 12th century transitive verb to say mean or spiteful things about (as one not present) intransitive verb to backbite a person • backbiter noun Oxford English Reference Dictionary
English Explanatory Dictionary backbite ˈbækbaɪt v.tr. slander; speak badly of. øøbackbiter n. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Backbite \Back"bite`\, v. i. [2nd back, n., + bite] To wound by clandestine detraction; to censure meanly or spitefully (an absent person); to slander or speak evil of (one absent). --Spenser. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Backbite \Back"bite`\, v. i. To censure or revile the absent. They are arrant knaves, and will backbite. --Shak. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia BACKBITE bak'-bit raghal; doloo: To slander the absent, like a dog biting behind the back, where one cannot see; to go about as a talebearer. "He that backbiteth [Revised Version, slandereth] not with his tongue" (Ps 15:3). Backbiters bak'-bit-~rz (Greek katalaloi: Men who speak against. Vulgate, "detractors" (Ro 1:30)). Backbiting bak'-bit-ing: cether: Adj. "a backbiting tongue"; literally, "a tongue of secrecy" (Pr 25:23). katalalia: substantive "a speaking against" (2Co 12:20; Wisdom 1:11); "evil speaking" (1Pe 2:1). glossa trite: "a backbiting tongue" (the King James Version of Ecclesiasticus 28:14,15); more literally translated in the Revised Version (British and American) "a third person's tongue." T. Rees Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary Backbite In Ps. 15:3, the rendering of a word which means to run about tattling, calumniating; in Prov. 25:23, secret talebearing or slandering; in Rom. 1:30 and 2 Cor. 12:20, evil-speaking, maliciously defaming the absent. Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms backbite v. a. Defame, traduce, malign, slander, revile, calumniate, libel, asperse, vilify, blacken, abuse, scandalize, speak ill of. |
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