Origin and history of click-bait

"food put on a hook or trap to attract prey," c. 1300, from Old Norse beita "food, bait," especially for fish, from beita "cause to bite," from Proto-Germanic *baitjan, causative of *bitan, which is reconstructed to be from PIE root *bheid- "to split," with derivatives in Germanic referring to biting.

The noun is cognate with Old Norse beit "pasture, pasturage," Old English bat "food." The figurative sense of "means of enticement" is from c. 1400.

Bait.—One animal impaled upon a hook in order to torture a second for the amusement of a third. [from "Specimens of a Patent Pocket Dictionary" in New Monthly Magazine, 1824]

"a small, sharp sound," 1610s, from click (v.). As a sound in certain South African languages, 1837. Click-beetle attested from 1830, so called from its ability, when on its back, to spring into the air with an audible click.