ankle biter

noun

variants: or ankle-biter

|Updated on: 8 Jul 2018

Definition of ankle biter

informal

1 : a young child

The only topics of conversation among parents are about the ankle biters and their various extracurricular activities … and food allergies.
—Deborah Hill Cone

2 : a small, aggressive dog

Recent Examples of ankle biter from the Web

Cut these ankle biters some slack and don’t roll your eyes.

— christopher muther, BostonGlobe.com, "Six ways we can all be more civil and helpful to each other on planes," 26 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ankle biter.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.