backbite

• back-bite

From Middle English bakbiten, bacbiten, equivalent to back- +‎ bite. Cognate with Icelandic bakbíta (“to backbite, vilify”).

backbite (third-person singular simple present backbites, present participle backbiting, simple past backbit, past participle backbitten)

1. To make spiteful slanderous or defamatory statements about someone.

   Synonyms: denigrate, libel, slander; see also Thesaurus:defame

   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 213:

     They beguiled the time by backbiting and intriguing against each other in a foolish kind of way.

   • 2007 March 16, Capcom Production Studio 4, quoting Gumshoe, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All, Europe: Capcom, →OCLC, Nintendo DS, scene: Part 3: Investigation, Plaza, level/area: Turnabout Big Top:

     Gumshoe: You're not gonna get me to backbite a woman with a whip. No way.

2. (informal) To attack from behind or when out of earshot with spiteful or defamatory remarks.
3. To speak badly of an absent individual.

• backbiter
• backbiting

• behind someone's back

backbite (plural backbites)

1. One who engages in backbiting; a backbiter.

• bite back