redbait

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English

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Etymology

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From red +‎ bait.

Verb

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redbait (third-person singular simple present redbaits, present participle redbaiting, simple past and past participle redbaited)

  1. (US, transitive) To attack by denouncing as a Communist.
    • 2007 September 9, David Corn, “Collision Course”, in New York Times[1]:
      While Jack Kennedy thrived in the 1950s as a sex-crazed, drug-dependent, ailment-ridden party-boy politician, Bobby, the family’s complicated sourpuss, hooked up with the redbaiting Joe McCarthy, then spun off as a crusading and corners-cutting scourge of labor corruption.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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redbait (plural redbait)

  1. A fish, Emmelichthys nitidus
  2. Pyura stolonifera, an ascidian often used as bait by anglers.

Anagrams

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