a nail-biter

1. Literally, someone who bites their fingernails, especially due to nervousness or agitation. I was a nail-biter at a young age, and, try as I might, I've never managed to shake the habit completely. Once Daisy started painting her nails every week, it really did stop her from being a nail-biter. Before I took up meditation, I would always become a nail-biter in times of stress.

2. By extension, a situation, especially a competitive one, whose outcome is particularly close or uncertain and marked by nervous apprehension. Did you catch the football match last Sunday? Man, what a nail-biter! With how close these two candidates are, this election is sure to be a real nail-biter in its final moments. The game was such a nail-biter that I actually started pacing during overtime!

ankle biter

slang A young child, often a toddler. Hey, I know I said I'd babysit, but I can't watch five ankle biters all by myself! Can you please get these ankle biters out of the house? I have so much work to do today! She really wants me to watch her kids? But I'm an only child—I'm not great with ankle biters!

knee biter

slang A young child, often a toddler. Hey, I know I said I'd babysit, but I can't watch five knee biters all by myself!

pillow-biter

offensive slang A homosexual male.

the biter bit

dated A person who has committed wrongs is now experiencing the same kind of torment, adversity, etc. She has bullied me for years, and now she's getting a taste of her own medicine. Looks like she is the biter bit. A prankster like him deserves to be the target of his own tricks once in a while. The biter bit, we would call him back home.

See also: bit, biter

the biter gets bit

A person who has committed wrongs is now experiencing the same kind of torment, adversity, etc. She has bullied me for years, and now she's getting a taste of her own medicine. Looks like the biter is getting bit. Ah ha, the biter gets bit! A prankster deserves to be the target of his own tricks once in a while.

the biter is bit

dated A person who has committed wrongs is now experiencing the same kind of torment, adversity, etc. She has bullied me for years, and now she's getting a taste of her own medicine. Looks like the biter is bit. Ah ha, the biter is bit! A prankster deserves to be the target of his own tricks once in a while.

See also: bit, biter

the biter is sometimes bit

proverb A person who has committed wrongs often ends up experiencing the same kind of torment, adversity, etc. She has bullied me for years, and now she's getting a taste of her own medicine. I guess the biter is sometimes bit. A prankster like him deserves to be the target of his own tricks once in a while. The biter is sometimes bit, as they say.

rug rat

Sl. a small child, especially an infant or toddler. (Also a term of address.) You got any rug rats at your house? Hey, you cute little rug rat, come over here.

the biter gets bit

BRITISH, OLD-FASHIONED

You say the biter gets bit to mean that someone suffers as a result of their own actions, especially when they were intending to hurt someone else. Sympathy seldom abounds when the biter gets bit. Note: `Biter' is an old word meaning a swindler (= person who cheats people out of money).

the biter bit (or bitten)

a person who has done harm has been harmed in a similar way.

Biter was a late 17th-century term for a fraudster or trickster. In this sense it now survives only in this phrase.

2000 Locus The most common plot device in Lee's stories is the classic ‘biter bitten’ resolution.

See also: bit, biter

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

the biter ˈbit

the person who wanted to do harm, cheat somebody, etc., has harm done to them, is cheated, etc: It was a case of the biter bit — she’d tried to make him look foolish and ended up being ridiculed herself.

See also: bit, biter

biter

1. n. a thief. (see also bite.) Some biter made off with my algebra book.

2. n. someone who copies someone else. (From the first sense.) That’s my steelo, you biter!

rug rat

and ankle biter

n. a child. Hey, you cute little rug rat, come over here. I got three little ankle biters at home.

ankle biter

verb

See rug rat