bit
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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snaffle bit (1)
drill bit (2)
key bit (15)
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
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
Noun
bit (plural bits)
- A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to the reins to direct the animal.
- Synonyms: kimberwicke, pelham, snaffle
- A horse hates having a bit put in its mouth.
- A rotary cutting tool fitted to a drill, used to bore holes.
- Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.
- (dated, British) A coin of a specified value.
- a threepenny bit
- (historical, US and Canada) 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.
- A quarter is two bits.
- 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 16:
- He left after shaking her down for four bits for carrying the bags.
- (obsolete, US and Canada) A coin of a value similar but not equal to this, in particular the ‘short bit’, i.e. the ten-cent piece or dime.
- 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 10, in Klee Wyck:
- The smallest coin we had in Canada in early days was a dime, worth ten cents. The Indians called this coin “a Bit”. Our next coin, double in buying power and in size, was a twenty-five cent piece and this the Indians called “Two Bits”.
- (historical) 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.
- 1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 6, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I:
- I trusted to the Lord to be with me; and at one of our trips to St. Eustatia, a Dutch island, I bought a glass tumbler with my half bit, and when I came to Montserrat I sold it for a bit, or sixpence.
- (historical) A unit of currency of the Dutch West Indies in the early 20th century, worth one fifth of a cent.
- (dated, British) A coin of a specified value.
- A small amount of something.
- Synonyms: (of food) morsel, piece, scrap; see also Thesaurus:modicum
- There were bits of paper all over the floor.
- Does your leg still hurt? —Just a bit now.
- I've done my bit; I expect you to do yours.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, “The Beanspiller”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 186:
- ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’
- (informal) Specifically, a small amount of time.
- Synonyms: instant, jiffy, tick; see also Thesaurus:moment
- Antonyms: age, (US) while; see also Thesaurus:eon
- I'll be there in a bit; I need to take care of something first.
- He was here just a bit ago, but it looks like he's stepped out.
- (informal) A small fraction above a whole number.
- The movie lasted for two and a bit hours.
- (in the plural, informal, sports) Fractions of a second.
- Synonym: split-second
- The 400 metres race was won in 47 seconds and bits.
- A portion of something.
- Synonyms: portion, share, segment; see also Thesaurus:piece
- I'd like a big bit of cake, please.
- 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
- Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. […] A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.
- Somewhat; something, but not very great; also used like jot and whit to express the smallest degree. See also a bit.
- Am I bored? Not a bit of it!
- 1835', Theodore Hook, Gilbert Gurney
- My young companion was a bit of a poet.
- (slang) A prison sentence, especially a short one.
- Synonym: bid
- 1904, The Anamosa prison press, volume 7, Iowa. Colony of Detention at Anamosa:
- Had it not been for the influence of Mrs. Booth and Hope Hall I should still be grafting or doing a bit in some stir
- 1916, Thomas Mott Osborne. Warden, Sing Sing Prison, N. Y., “Prison Reform”, in The Journal of sociologic medicine, volume 17, page 407:
- Before doing that I am going to tell you what was the result of my own incarceration, because I presume it may not be a secret to you, that I have done a "bit" myself, not the "bit" which the prosecuting attorney was so anxious to have me do.
- 1994, Odie Hawkins, Lost Angeles, page 158:
- Chino didn't make me think of Dachau or that notorious joint in Angola, Louisiana, where a brother who had done a bit there told me how they used to cut the grass on the front lawn with their fingernails.
- 2001, Andrew H. Vachss, Pain management:
- Not counting the days—that's okay for a county-time slap, but it'll make you crazy if you've got years to go on a felony bit.
- An excerpt of material making up part of a show, comedy routine, etc.
- His bit about video games was not nearly as entertaining as the other segments of his show.
- (slang) A gag or put-on; a humorous conceit, especially when insistently presented as true.
- Synonyms: shaggy dog story, wind up; see also Thesaurus:joke
- Are you serious, or is this a bit?
- 2024 March 1, F1NN5TER, 3:36 from the start, in Coming Out, archived from the original on 14 May 2024:
- Also, I'm bi. I like dudes! ...That's weird to say. Everything I say feels like a bit now, god dammit.
- Short for bit part.
- She acted her bit in the opening scene.
- The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers.[1]
- The cutting iron of a plane.[2]
- The bevelled front edge of an axehead along which the cutting edge runs.
- (BDSM) A gag of a style similar to a bridle.
- (MLE) A gun.
- Synonyms: (MLE) skeng, toy, wap; see also Thesaurus:firearm
- 2013 December 23, Stephen Reynolds, 46:53 from the start, in Stephen Reynolds, director, Vendetta (film), spoken by Jimmy Vickers (Danny Dyer):
- Jimmy: I need to get my hands on some bits. If you’re still in the business.
Ronnie (played by Nick Nevern): Oi!
Trojan (played by Jean-Paul Van Cauwelaert): Ronnie.
[…]
Trojan: Now that is a SIG Sauer P226.
Derived terms
- a bit
- a fair bit
- a little bit
- a little bit of bread and no cheese
- a lot of 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
- centrebit
- centre-bit
- 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
- dogbit
- dog's dangly bits
- do one's bit
- drag bit
- every bit
- every little bit helps
- fall to bits
- fippenny bit
- Forstner bit
- frogbit
- German bit
- gouge bit
- hair of the dog that bit one
- itty-bitty
- key bit
- lip bit
- little bit
- long bit
- marbit
- masterbit
- modesty bit
- naughty bit
- nose bit
- not a bit, not one bit
- not a bit of it
- picky bits
- pod bit
- quill bit
- quite a bit
- rearing bit
- rebit
- roller cone bit
- rollercone bit
- roller-cone bit
- rose bit
- sheep's-bit
- short bit
- sixpenny bit
- threepenny bit
- threepenny-bit
- tidbit
- Timbit
- time after bit
- tit bit
- tongue-lolling bit
- two-bit
- unbit
- wait-a-bit
- weather-bit
Related terms
- bits (“genitals”)
Translations
metal in horse's mouth
|
rotary cutting tool
|
coin of a specified value — see coin
ten-cent piece — see dime
eighth of a dollar
coin worth about 121⁄2 cents; sum of 121⁄2 cents
small amount of something — see also a little
|
small amount of time
portion
|
somewhat; something, but not very great — see also a bit
|
part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers
cutting iron of a plane
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
bit (third-person singular simple present bits, present participle bitting, simple past and past participle bitted)
- (transitive) To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of (a horse).
References
- Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Bit”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.
- Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Bit”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.
Etymology 2
See bite
Verb
bit
Adjective
bit (not comparable)
- (chiefly in combination) Having been bitten.
- Even though he's bit, of course the zombies would still chase him.
- 1984 July, Field & Stream, volume 89, number 3, page 24:
- Fortunately, someone who gets skeeter-bit this much may develop an immunity to the skeeter's saliva
Derived terms
Etymology 3
Coined by John Tukey in 1946 as an abbreviation of binary digit, probably influenced by connotations of “small portion”.[1][2] First used in print 1948 by Claude Shannon.[3] Compare byte and nybble, with similar food associations.
Noun
bit (plural bits)
- (mathematics, computing) A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.
- (computing) The smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, consisting of a binary digit.
- Synonym: b
- (information theory, cryptography) Any datum that may take on one of exactly two values.
- status bits on IRC
- permission bits in a file system
- (information theory) A unit of measure for information entropy.
- 2011 May 17, Lisa Grossman, “Entropy Is Universal Rule of Language”, in Wired Science, retrieved 2012-09-26:
- The researchers found that the original texts spanned a variety of entropy values in different languages, reflecting differences in grammar and structure.
But strangely, the difference in entropy between the original, ordered text and the randomly scrambled text was constant across languages. This difference is a way to measure the amount of information encoded in word order, Montemurro says. The amount of information lost when they scrambled the text was about 3.5 bits per word.
- A microbitcoin, or a millionth of a bitcoin (0.000001 BTC).
Hyponyms
- hidden bit
- high-order bit
- least significant bit
- most significant bit
- qubit
Derived terms
- 128-bit
- 16-bit
- 32-bit
- 64-bit
- 7-bit
- 8-bit
- ancilla bit
- bitarray
- bit array
- bit banging
- bit bashing
- bitboard
- bitcent
- bit-compressed
- bit-count integrity
- bit crusher
- bit decay
- bit depth
- bit-depth
- biter
- bitfield
- bitfilter
- bitflag
- bitflip
- bit interval
- bitlength
- bitline
- bit-map
- bitmap
- bit map
- bitmask
- bitness
- bit nibbler
- bitplane
- bit plane
- bitpop
- bitrange
- bitrate
- bit rate
- bitrot
- bit rot
- bitscore
- bitset
- bit shift
- bit slice
- bitsquatting
- bitstate
- bitstream
- bit string
- bitstring
- bit stuffing
- bitter
- bit time
- BitTorrent
- bitvector
- bitwidth
- bitwise
- bucky bit
- fakebit
- gibibit
- high bit
- high order bit
- interbit
- kibibit
- killbit
- mebibit
- multibit
- parity bit
- pebibit
- quadbit
- quantum bit
- quettabit
- ronnabit
- sign bit
- sticky bit
- tebibit
Translations
math: binary digit
|
computing: smallest unit of storage
|
information theory: datum that may take on one of exactly two values
information theory: unit of measure for information entropy
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
References
- “Six Receive Honorary Degrees at Princeton Commencement”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), (Can we date this quote?), archived from the original on 2002-02-09
- (Please provide the book title or journal name), 2007 March 23 (last accessed), archived from the original on 3 March 2007
- Claude Shannon (1948 July) “A Mathematical Theory of Communication”, in The Bell System Technical Journal,
Anagrams
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