English Explanatory Dictionary

bit

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to the reins to direct the animal.
  2. A rotary cutting tool, fitted to a drill, brace, or router, used to bore or drill holes or to remove material from the profile of the workpiece.
  3. Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.
  4. A coin of a specified value.
  5. A unit of currency worth one eighth of a dollar, originally of a Spanish dollar but later also US or Canadian; also, a coin with this value, in particular the silver Spanish real.
  6. A coin of a value similar but not equal to this, in particular the ‘short bit’, i.e. the ten-cent piece or dime.
  7. A unit of currency and coin of the British West Indies worth six black dogs, originally equal to one-eighth of a Spanish dollar but later increasingly debased to one tenth, one eleventh, one twelfth, etc.
  8. A unit of currency of the Dutch West Indies in the early 20th century, worth one fifth of a cent.
  9. Synonym of microbitcoin.
  10. A small amount of something.
  11. Specifically, a small amount of time.
  12. A small fraction above a whole number.
verb
  1. To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of (a horse).
verb
  1. simple past of bite
  2. past participle of bite, bitten
adj
  1. Having been bitten.
noun
  1. A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.
  2. The smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, consisting of a binary digit.
  3. Any datum that may take on one of exactly two values.
  4. A unit of measure for information entropy.
  5. A microbitcoin, or a millionth of a bitcoin (0.000001 BTC).
name
  1. An Austroasiatic language spoken in China and Laos.
name
  1. Acronym of Behavioural Insights Team.

Pronunciation

bĭt /ˈbɪt/ en-us-bit.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bit.wav /ˈbɘt/

Word forms

bit bits bitting bitted

Etymology

From Middle English bitte, bite, from Old English bita (“bit; fragment; morsel”) and bite (“a bite; cut”), from Proto-Germanic *bitô and *bitiz; both from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”). More at bite. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian bit, Saterland Frisian Bit, Dutch bit, German Low German Beet, Biet, German Biss and Bissen, Danish bid, Swedish bit, Icelandic biti.

Synonyms

kimberwicke pelham snaffle coin piece microbitcoin morsel scrap ace atom atomy aught bissel bit crumb glimpse dab damn dash diddly glint dot spatter drop dusting fleck glimmer hint flip flyspeck grain halfpennyworth inch iota jot lick mite modicum molecule morceau mote ooch ounce particle pennyworth pinch relish scantling semblance scent scintilla scooch scruple shred skerrick skoosh skosh sliver smattering smidge

Antonyms

age while aeon ages blue moon coon's age crow's age dog's age donkey's years eld eon eternity forever forever and a day interim interlude interval lifetime long haul long run meantime minute month of Sundays spell years yonks

Related words

bits ban nat qubit Wiktionary’s coverage of Bit terms Bit-os

Derived words

a bit a fair bit a little bit a little bit of bread and no cheese a lot of bit a wee bit behind the bit bergy bit bit and bit bit-banger bit between one's teeth bit-bucket bit bucket bit by bit bit-faker bitless bit lifter bitling bit of all right bit of alright bit of crumpet bit of fluff bit of homework bit of muslin bit of rough bit of skirt bit of stuff bit on the side bit part bit player bit role bits and bobs bits and pieces bit shank bitstock bittock bitty blind bit blown to bits brace and bit cannon bit canon bit centerbit centre-bit centrebit chafe at the bit champ at the bit chicken bit chomp at the bit commit to the bit curb-bit curb bit devil's bit dog's dangly bits do one's bit drag bit every bit every little bit helps fall to bits fippenny bit

Translations

Bulgarian: бит
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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