Bait is food which you put on a hook or in a trap in order to catch fish or animals.

If you bait a hook or trap, you put bait on it or in it.

To use something as bait means to use it to trick or persuade someone to do something.

If you bait someone, you deliberately try to make them angry by teasing them.

If you take the bait, you react to something that someone has said or done exactly as they intended you to do. The expression rise to the bait is also used, mainly in British English.