1. Home
2. Idioms
3. rise to the bait

rise to the bait

---

---

rise to the bait

Fig. to respond to an allurement; to fall for an enticement or fall into a trap. (Alludes to a fish coming up from deep water to seize bait.) You can get him here easily. Tell him that there will be lots of food and he will rise to the bait. He rose to the bait and did just as he was expected to do.

See also: bait, rise

rise to the bait

to react to something that was said just to make you react Tony keeps saying that women are bad drivers, but I refuse to rise to the bait and don't answer him.

See also: bait, rise

rise to the bait

to react to something that someone has said in exactly the way that they wanted you to react, usually by becoming angry (often negative) Anthony keeps saying that women make bad drivers but I refuse to rise to the bait.

See also: bait, rise

rise to the bait

Be tempted by or react to an enticement, as in We told him there'd be lots of single young women at the party, and he rose to the bait . Likening a fish rising to bait to human behavior dates from the late 1500s.

See also: bait, rise