Backbite
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): (v. i.) To censure or revile the absent.
(2): (v. i.) To wound by clandestine detraction; to censure meanly or spitefully (an absent person); to slander or speak evil of (one absent).
Easton's Bible Dictionary [2]
Psalm 15:3 Proverbs 25:23 Romans 1:30 2 Corinthians 12:20
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [3]
bak´bı̄t רגל , rāghal ; δολόω , dolóō ̌ : To slander the absent, like a dog biting behind the back, where one cannot see; to go about as a talebearer. "He that backbiteth [Revised Version, slandereth not with his tongue" ( Psalm 15:3 ).
Backbiters bak´bı̄t - ẽrz (Greek κατάλαλοι , katálaloi ̌ : Men who speak against. Vulgate, "detractors" ( Romans 1:30 ).
Backbiting bak´bı̄t - ing : סתר , ṣether ̌ : Adj. "a backbiting tongue"; literally, "a tongue of secrecy" ( Proverbs 25:23 ). καταλαλία , katalalı́a ̌ : substantive "a speaking against" ( 2 Corinthians 12:20; Wisdom 2 Corinthians 1:11 ); "evil speaking" ( 1 Peter 2:1 ). γλώσσα τρίτη , glō̇ssa trı́tē ̌ : "a backbiting tongue" (the King James Version of Ecclesiasticus 28:14, 15); more literally translated in the Revised Version (British and American) "a third person's tongue."
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [4]
(in Psalms 15:3, רָגִל , Ragal', to Run About tattling; in Proverbs 25:23, סֵתֶר , Se'Ther, Secrecy in tale-bearing; in Romans 1:30, Κατάλαλος , an Evil Speaker; in 2 Corinthians 12:20, Καταλαλιά , evil-speaking) , maliciously to defame an absent person. (See Slander).
