bit
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: bĭt
ipa: /bɪt/
rhymes: -ɪt
Forms: form: bits
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.
Senses: examples: text: A horse hates having a bit put in its mouth.
synonyms: kimberwicke
pelham
snaffle
glosses: A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to the reins to direct the animal.
examples: text: router bit
text: chamfering bit
glosses: 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.
examples: text: a threepenny bit
synonyms: coin
piece
glosses: Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.
A coin of a specified value.
examples: text: A quarter is two bits.
text: He left after shaking her down for four bits for carrying the bags.
ref: 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 16:
synonyms: coin
piece
glosses: Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.
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.
examples: text: 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”.
ref: 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 10, in Klee Wyck:
synonyms: coin
piece
glosses: Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.
A coin of a value similar but not equal to this, in particular the ‘short bit’, i.e. the ten-cent piece or dime.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 6, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I:
synonyms: coin
piece
glosses: Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.
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.
synonyms: coin
piece
glosses: Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.
A unit of currency of the Dutch West Indies in the early 20th century, worth one fifth of a cent.
synonyms: word: coin
word: piece
word: microbitcoin
glosses: Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.
Synonym of microbitcoin.
examples: text: There were bits of paper all over the floor.
text: Does your leg still hurt? —Just a bit now.
text: I've done my bit; I expect you to do yours.
text: ‘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?’
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, “The Beanspiller”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 186:
synonyms: word: morsel
english: of food
translation: of food
word: piece
word: scrap
word: ace
word: tinge
word: atom
word: trace element
word: aught
word: bissel
word: bit
word: crumb
word: glimpse
word: dab
word: damn
word: dash
word: diddly
word: glint
word: dot
word: spatter
word: drop
word: dusting
word: fleck
word: hint
word: flip
word: flyspeck
word: grain
word: halfpennyworth
word: inch
word: iota
word: jot
word: lick
word: mite
word: modicum
word: molecule
word: morceau
word: morsel
word: mote
word: ooch
word: ounce
word: particle
word: pennyworth
word: piece
word: pinch
word: scantling
word: semblance
word: scent
word: scintilla
word: scooch
word: scrap
word: scruple
word: shred
word: skerrick
word: skoosh
word: skosh
word: sliver
word: smattering
word: smidge
word: smidgen
word: smidget
word: smidgy
word: smitch
word: smithereen
word: soupçon
word: spark
word: speck
word: speckle
word: spot
word: sprinkle
word: sprinkling
word: strain
word: tad
word: tidbit
word: tidge
word: tittle
word: toddick
word: touch
word: trace
word: trifle
word: tuppence worth
word: vestige
word: whiff
word: whit
glosses: A small amount of something.
examples: text: I'll be there in a bit; I need to take care of something first.
text: He was here just a bit ago, but it looks like he's stepped out.
synonyms: word: instant
word: jiffy
word: tick
word: bat of an eye
word: bit
word: blink of an eye
word: crack
word: eyeblink
word: flash
word: glimpse
word: half a mo
word: instant
word: jiff
word: jiffy
word: jot
word: minute
word: mo
word: moment
word: New York minute
word: New York second
word: no time
word: sec
word: second
word: span
word: split-second
word: spurt
word: stound
word: tick
word: trice
word: twink
word: twinkle
word: twinkling
word: while
antonyms: word: age
word: while
word: jiffy
word: moment
word: never in a month of Sundays
glosses: Specifically, a small amount of time.
examples: text: The movie lasted for two and a bit hours.
glosses: A small fraction above a whole number.
examples: text: The 400 metres race was won in 47 seconds and bits.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
synonyms: split-second
glosses: Fractions of a second.
examples: text: I'd like a big bit of cake, please.
text: 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.
ref: 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
synonyms: word: portion
word: share
word: segment
word: bit
word: chip
word: chunk
word: clip
word: crumb
word: crumbling
word: cutting
word: flake
word: fleak
word: fragment
word: hunk
word: lump
word: mammock
word: ort
word: piece
word: piecemeal
word: portion
word: scrap
word: scraplet
word: slice
word: snead
word: snippet
word: steck
glosses: A portion of something.
examples: text: Am I bored? Not a bit of it!
text: My young companion was a bit of a poet.
ref: 1835, Theodore Hook, Gilbert Gurney:
glosses: Somewhat; something, but not very great; also used like jot and whit to express the smallest degree. See also a bit.
examples: text: Near-synonym: driver
text: driver bit
glosses: A replaceable tip for a hand tool or power tool, comprising the portion that drives a fastener.
examples: text: 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
ref: 1904, The Anamosa prison press, volume 7, Iowa. Colony of Detention at Anamosa:
text: 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.
ref: 1916, Thomas Mott Osborne. Warden, Sing Sing Prison, N. Y., “Prison Reform”, in The Journal of sociologic medicine, volume 17, page 407:
text: 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.
ref: 1994, Odie Hawkins, Lost Angeles, page 158:
text: 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.
ref: 2001, Andrew H. Vachss, Pain management:
synonyms: bid
glosses: A prison sentence, especially a short one.
examples: text: His bit about video games was not nearly as entertaining as the other segments of his show.
glosses: An excerpt of material making up part of a show, comedy routine, etc.
examples: text: Are you serious, or is this a bit?
text: Also, I'm bi. I like dudes! ...That's weird to say. Everything I say feels like a bit now, god dammit.
ref: 2024 March 1, F1NN5TER, 3:36 from the start, in Coming Out, archived from the original on 14 May 2024:
synonyms: word: shaggy dog story
word: wind up
word: joke
glosses: A gag or put-on; a humorous conceit, especially when insistently presented as true.
examples: text: She acted her bit in the opening scene.
glosses: Ellipsis of bit part.
glosses: The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers.
glosses: The cutting iron of a plane.
glosses: The bevelled front edge of an axehead along which the cutting edge runs.
topics: BDSM
lifestyle
sexuality
glosses: A gag of a style similar to a bridle.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2013 December 23, Stephen Reynolds, 46:53 from the start, in Stephen Reynolds, director, Vendetta (film), spoken by Jimmy Vickers (Danny Dyer):
synonyms: word: skeng
word: toy
word: wap
word: firearm
word: gat
word: gun
word: iron
word: piece
glosses: A gun.
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
Liverpool 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
ring bit
roller cone bit
roller-cone bit
rollercone 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: english: genitals
translation: genitals
word: bits