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• bight
  bight

  noun

  the middle part of a rope, as distinguished from the ends.
• Bight
  Bight

  noun

  the major indentation of the S coast of Australia, from Cape Pasley in W Australia to the Eyre Peninsula in S Australia

bight

American  

[bahyt] / baɪt /

noun

1. the middle part of a rope, as distinguished from the ends.

2. the loop or bent part of a rope, as distinguished from the ends.

3. a bend or curve in the shore of a sea or river.

4. a body of water bounded by such a bend.

5. a bay or gulf.

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verb (used with object)

• bights,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bighted,
  past participle,  past
• bighting
  present participle

1. to fasten with a bight of rope.

bight ¹ British  

/ baɪt /

noun

1. a wide indentation of a shoreline, or the body of water bounded by such a curve

2. the slack middle part of an extended rope

3. a curve or loop in a rope

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verb

1. (tr) to fasten or bind with a bight

Bight ² British  

noun

1. In full: the Great Australian Bight. informal the major indentation of the S coast of Australia, from Cape Pasley in W Australia to the Eyre Peninsula in S Australia

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bight Scientific  

/ bīt /

1. A long, gradual bend or curve in a shoreline. A bight can be larger than a bay, or it can be a segment of a bay.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• bighting
  present
• bighted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bight
  simple
• bights
  simple
• have bighted
  perfect
• has bighted
  perfect
• am bighting
  progressive
• are bighting
  progressive
• is bighting
  progressive
• have been bighting
  perfect progressive
• has been bighting
  perfect progressive

Past

• bighted
  simple
• had bighted
  perfect
• was bighting
  progressive
• were bighting
  progressive
• had been bighting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bight
  simple
• will have bighted
  perfect
• will be bighting
  progressive
• will have been bighting
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of bight

First recorded before 1000; Middle English byght, Old English byht “bend, bay”; cognate with Dutch bocht, German Bucht; akin to bow ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bight Bight bights bighted

Even with a young team, the Anteaters advanced to the Big West Tournament final, so the future should be bight.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 11, 2018

Karoon, which just announced its plans to explore for oil last week, said the bight held “the world’s last underexplored Cretaceous basins”.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 10, 2016

The shallow bight, more than a mile wide in places, runs east to west and cuts Andros roughly in half.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 14, 2015

The boardwalk weaves along the bight from the ferry terminal on Grinnell to the end of Front Street.

From New York Times ● Apr. 29, 2015

As she left Camp Four at the front of Fischer’s group, Lopsang abruptly pulled her aside and girth-hitched a bight of rope to the front of her climbing harness.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

The bottle was thrown overboard "somewhere in the Bight", Pte Harley's letter said, referring to the Great Australian Bight off the country's southern coast.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2025

The South Atlantic Bight appears to support several stages of the migration cycle: nesting, post-nesting foraging, and overwintering.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 15, 2024

In Australia, marsupials abound: A snarling Tasmanian devil stands before craggy Cradle Mountain, while a stubby brown wombat surveils the Great Australian Bight.

From New York Times ● Dec. 10, 2023

Both were in a triangular section of the Atlantic Ocean, known as the New York Bight, that extends from Cape May in New Jersey to Montauk on the tip of Long Island.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 2, 2023

Instantly she will submerge and lay a course for Heligoland Bight.

From The Men Who Wrought by Ridgwell Cullum

The map was full of promises of the undiscovered, coves and lookout points, brooks and bights each harboring a secret second chance.

From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2016

In the tumult of his passion and fear Wade cursed the caitiff, his own legs in the swirl of the bights, his cant-dog nipping the rope to the post and checking it short.

From King Spruce, A Novel by Holman Day

Make fast end a at c, and end d at e, cinching up strongly on the bights that come through the cinch rings.

From Camp and Trail by Stewart Edward White

When I tell you I found that yellow thing snooping around the davits, and three bights off the boat-fall loosened out, plain on deck—you grin behind your collar.

From Masterpieces of Mystery, Vol. 1 (of 4) Ghost Stories by Joseph Lewis French

This began to worry me and finally I lashed the tiller—fastening it in the bights of two 77ropes prepared for that purpose, and crept back into the cabin again.

From Swept Out to Sea Clint Webb Among the Whalers by W. Bertram Foster

“You don’t want to end up with a bighted community as a result of trying to implement drastic water conservation measures,” Fraser said.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 14, 2015

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