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Also Inflected form of bite

bit

UK/ˈbɪt/ US/ˈbɪ̝t/ very common informal slang uk us

noun

1.

a small quantity

  • “a spot of tea”
  • “a bit of paper”
Synonyms
2.

a small fragment of something broken off from the whole

  • “a bit of rock caught him in the eye”
Synonyms
3.

an indefinitely short time

  • “wait just a moment”
  • “it only takes a minute”
  • “in just a bit”
Synonyms
4.

an instance of some kind

  • “it was a nice piece of work”
  • “he had a bit of good luck”
Synonyms
5.

piece of metal held in horse''s mouth by reins and used to control the horse while riding

  • “the horse was not accustomed to a bit”
6.

a unit of measurement of information (from Binary + digIT); the amount of information in a system having two equiprobable states

  • “there are 8 bits in a byte”
7.

a small amount of solid food; a mouthful

  • “all they had left was a bit of bread”
Synonyms
8.

a small fragment

  • “overheard snatches of their conversation”
Synonyms
9.

a short theatrical performance that is part of a longer program

  • “he did his act three times every evening”
  • “she had a catchy little routine”
  • “it was one of the best numbers he ever did”
Synonyms
10.

the cutting part of a drill; usually pointed and threaded and is replaceable in a brace or bitstock or drill press

  • “he looked around for the right size bit”

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • a bit
  • a fair bit
  • a little bit
  • a little bit of bread and no cheese
  • a lot of bit
  • a wee bit
  • ancilla bit
  • behind the bit
  • bergy bit
  • bit array
  • bit banging
  • bit bashing

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

Part of

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.