Meaning

noun anything that serves as an enticement

noun something used to lure fish or other animals into danger so they can be trapped or killed

verb harass with persistent criticism or carping

originFrom Middle English bayten, baiten, beiten, from Old Norse beita (“to bait, cause to bite, feed, hunt”), from Proto-Germanic *baitijaną (“to cause to bite, bridle”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to cleave, split, separate”). Cognate with Icelandic beita (“to bait”), Swedish beta (“to bait, pasture, graze”), German beizen (“to cause to bite, bait”), Old English bǣtan (“to bait, hunt, bridle,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0