bitesome

English

Etymology

From bite +‎ -some.

Adjective

bitesome (comparative more bitesome, superlative most bitesome)

1. Characterised or marked by biting
   • 1882, Sessional Papers, Legislature of the Province of Ontario:

     "Flies very bitesome."

   • 1908, Eliza Benedict Hornby, Under Old Rooftrees:

     In the first place, a genuine good cider flip could never be made until Boreas came with "bitesome breezes and blew- some blastesses" and froze the barrel of cider in the garret.

   • 1966, Newsweek, volume 67:

     One of the boys runs into a bitesome boxer dog, then tracks down its owner in church and demands that justice be done for his torn trouser leg.

   • 1981, William Stout, Byron Preiss, The dinosaurs:

     It was a refined mouth, accustomed to the better things in life. With it he sorted out the few poisonous fungi from the good ones, and enjoyed fallen fruit, carrion, tubers, berries, sprouted nuts, and the bitesome green balled fists of ferns just up.

2. (by extension) Causing emotional sting; disappointing; unsatisfactory
   • 1910, China's Millions:

     […] and, as for the other inconveniences, I remember that a Chinese woman who was just beginning to speak English said to her teacher: “Ma'am, in summer the inns are very bitesome. […] ”

   • 1916, Record of Christian Work, volume 35:

     The inn was about the dirtiest that I had been in for many a long day. It was rather 'bitesome' also, and under such conditions one cannot well sleep.

3. Having a bite to it; piquant.
   • 2000, Madison Magazine - Volume 42:

     Eight dollars affords you an incredible salmon filet, cooked to perfection and dressed with a cucumber yogurt sauce — the perfect contrast to the bitesome peppercorn crust.