1.
[syn: backbite, bitch]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Backbite \Back"bite`\, v. t. [2d 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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Backbite \Back"bite`\, v. i.
To censure or revile the absent.
[1913 Webster]
They are arrant knaves, and will backbite. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
backbite
v 1: say mean things [syn: backbite, bitch]
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.
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):
BACKBITE, v.t. To speak of a man as you find him when he can't find
you.