Definition of "bearbait"

Could any thing afford a stronger contrast to the grave and certainly severe study to which Elizabeth had habituated herself, than the vain and fantastic puerility of many of her recreations and habits, the unintellectual brutality of the bearbaits which she admired, or the gaudy and glittering pageants in which she delighted?

1840, Elizabeth Stone, Mary Margaret EGERTON (Countess of Wilton.), The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, page 287

Congleton had a reputation for bearbaiting and went to some lengths to protect it, sending messengers to Knutsford and Bunbury to ensure that the bearwards got to the Congleton bearbait (see pp 639, 653).

2007, Lawrence M. Clopper, Elizabeth Baldwin, David Mills, Cheshire Including Chester, page lxxv

A witness to a bearbait in 1575 intriguingly describes the animal's struggle like a kind of dance, who "if he were ta'en once, then by what shift with biting, with clawing, with roaring, with tossing, and tumbling, he would work and wind himself loose from them."

2014, Richard Preiss, Clowning and Authorship in Early Modern Theatre, page 164

I went first this morning to the carcass of the bison we had killed for bearbait ; I found a bear had been there, and had already had his breakfast.

1940, Annals of Wyoming - Volume 12, page 97

Even with the use of permits and other restrictions, baiting is still widely practiced, as shown by the following quote from T.V. Russell, Supervisor of Shoshone National Forest: "Enclosed is a copy of the bearbait permit we have been issuing on the Shoshone National Forest for the past two years. We have a general guideline that baits must be 2½-3 miles apart.

1974, Defenders of Wildlife -, Defenders of Wildlife News - Volume 49, page 5

Horse patrols with Wyoming Game and Fish Department wardens located three illegal bearbait sites; two were located in ldaho and one barely into Wyoming.

1976, Endangered Species Technical Bulletin Vol. 1 No.1, page 14

The worst ones for straying, curiously enough, were three broken-down old “bearbaits,” which went by themselves, as is generally the case with the cast-off horses of a herd.

1892, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine - Volume 44, page 713

Listen you ol' chunk of bearbait, you get ornery with me and I'll sic Mollie on you again.

1996, Matt Braun, Cimarron Jordan, page 89

Creditors, snarling, hound him on from without; mocked Hopes, lost Labours, bearbait him from within: to these torments his fixed-idea keeps him chained.

1857, Thomas Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, page 25

He used to fight the larger negro boys when they would bearbait dogs by tying tin cans to their tails.

1937, Francois De la Roche, Mississippi Mood, page 129

Talk show hosts bearbaited them, photo editors published unflattering, even demeaning pictures, and the print media ridiculed their intelligence, education, hair, clothing, and personal relationship—rather than addressing the issues.

2003, Bryan F. Le Beau, The Atheist: Madalyn Murray O'Hair, page 245

That was why they bearbaited him in the first place—they hoped for some uncivilized response they could further ridicule.

2016, Grace Callaway, Mayhem in Mayfair Quartet