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To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the mouth. "Frosts do bite the meads." Shak.

One who cheats; a sharper. [Colloq.] Spectator.

That bites; sharp; cutting; sarcastic; caustic. "A biting affliction." "A biting jest." Shak.

Causing pain or smart; piercing; painful; sharp; severe; as, a bitter cold day.

The quality or state of being bitter, sharp, or acrid, in either a literal or figurative sense; implacableness; resentfulness; severity; keenness of reproach or sarcasm; deep distress, grief, or vexation of mind. The lip that curls with bitterness. Percival. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Job vii. 11.…

A sharp-witted, dashing, wild, or reckless, fellow; -- a word of somewhat indefinite meaning. He saw a turnkey in a trice Fetter a troublesome blade. Coleridge.

Beer kept unbroached until it is sharp. Crabb.

Having a thick edge or point, as an instrument; dull; not sharp. The murderous knife was dull and blunt. Shak.

Want of edge or point; dullness; obtuseness; want of sharpness. The multitude of elements and bluntness of angles. Holland.

A jeer or flout; a sharp jest or taunt; a trick. He that a fool doth very wisely hit, Doth very foolishly, although he smart, Not to seem senseless of the bob. Shak.

An implement of steel, bone, ivory, etc., with a sharp point, for making holes by piercing; a

To support with a bolster or pillow. S. Sharp.

e bottom, or as a bottom; resting upon a bottom; grounded; -- mostly, in composition; as, sharp-bottomed; well- bottomed.

nd on her heel; -- so called from the circumstance of bracing the head yards abox (i. e., sharp aback, on the wind). Totten.

ng (a yard) nearer the direction of the keel by hauling in the lee brace. -- To brace up sharp (Naut.), to turn (a yard) as far forward as the rigging will permit.

A sharp bit or snaffle. Pampered jades . . . which need nor break nor bit. Gascoigne.

Sharp passion; vexation. [Obs.] Heart-burning brame. Spenser.

Fierce; sharp; severe; cruel. [Obs.] Spenser. From the septentrion cold, in the breme freezing air. Drayton.

Fig.: Anything sharp or unpleasant to the feelings. The thorns and briers of reproof. Cowper. Brier root, the root of the southern Smilax laurifolia and S. Walleri; -- used for tobacco pipes. -- Cat brier, Green brier, several species of Smilax (S. rotundifolia, etc.) -- Sweet brier (Rosa rubiginosa). See Sweetbrier.…

Acuteness (of the faculties); sharpness 9wit. The brightness of his parts . . . distinguished him. Prior.