the biter bit

English

Alternative forms

• the biter, bit; the biter bitten

Etymology

Ellipsis of the biter (is) bit.

Noun

the biter bit

1. (British) A hurt person who has hurt others in the past.
   • 2013 August 6, Malcolm Wright, “Snooping scandal shows disconnect between ranks of civil service”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     In a case of “the biter, bit”, ex-News of the World journalist, Andrea Vance, had her emails accessed and her movements tracked by the civil service.

   • 2018 July 6, Fiona Beckett, “Four wines that don't need to make a point”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     There was a bit of a Twitter storm recently after a bordeaux producer suggested that half the wine critics who rated the en primeur releases didn’t know their fundaments from their elbows. Well, fair enough, the biter bit and all that – chefs often have a go at restaurant critics, too.

Translations

a hurt person who has hurt others in the past — see also beat someone at their own game,‎ turn the tables

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: pilkattu pilkkaaja
• French: arroseur arrosé (fr), tel est pris qui croyait prendre (fr)
• Hungarian: akasztják a hóhért (literally “the hangman is [being] hanged”)
• Polish: drań (pl) m

See also

• beat someone at their own game
• turn the tables