Link Centre Dictionary

bight

UK/baɪt/ US/ˈbaɪt/ uncommon
noun (4) verb (1)

noun

1.

a loop in a rope

2.
3.

a broad bay formed by an indentation (a bight) in the shoreline

  • “the Bight of Benin”
  • “the Great Australian Bight”
4.

the middle part of a slack rope (as distinguished from its ends)

verb

1.

fasten with a bight

Origin

From Middle English bight, biȝt, byȝt (also bought, bowght, bouȝt; see bought), from Old English byht (“bend, angle, corner; bay, bight”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (“bend, curve”), from Proto-Germanic *beuganą (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (“to bend”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian boch, bocht, bucht (“bay, bight, gulf”), Saterland Frisian Bucht (“bay, bight, gulf”), West Frisian bocht (“bay, bight, gulf”), Dutch bocht (“bay, bight”), German Bucht (“bay, bight, gulf”), Icelandic bót (“bight, cove, small bay”); also Albanian butë (“soft, flabby”), Ukrainian бга́ти (bháty, “to crumple, twist”), Sanskrit भुज् (bhuj, “to bend, curve; to sweep”).

Phrases

  • Bight of Benin
  • Bight of Biafra
  • Blind Bight
  • Dobies Bight
  • German Bight
  • Great Australian Bight
  • New York Bight
  • New York/New Jersey Bight

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.