informalway of behaving, esp one intended to create a particular impressionshe's doing the prima donna bit
a bitrather; somewhata bit dreary
a bit of
rathera bit of a dope
a considerable amountthat must take quite a bit of courage
a bit of all right, a bit of crumpet, a bit of stuffora bit of tailBritishslanga sexually attractive woman
bit by bitgradually
bit on the sideinformalan extramarital affair
do one's bitto make one's expected contribution
every bit(foll by as)to the same degreeshe was every bit as clever as her brother
not a bitornot a bit of itnot in the slightest; not at all
to bitscompletely apartto fall to bits
Word Origin for bit
Old English bite action of biting; see bite
bit
2
noun
a metal mouthpiece, for controlling a horse on a bridle
anything that restrains or curbs
take the bit in one's teeth, take the bit between one's teeth, have the bit in one's teethorhave the bit between one's teeth
to undertake a task with determination
to rebel against control
a cutting or drilling tool, part, or head in a brace, drill, etc
the blade of a woodworking plane
the part of a pair of pincers designed to grasp an object
the copper end of a soldering iron
the part of a key that engages the levers of a lock
verbbits, bittingorbitted(tr)
to put a bit in the mouth of (a horse)
to restrain; curb
Word Origin for bit
Old English bita; related to Old English bītan to bite
bit
3
verb
the past tense and (archaic) past participle of bite
bit
4
nounmathscomputing
a single digit of binary notation, represented either by 0 or by 1
the smallest unit of information, indicating the presence or absence of a single feature
a unit of capacity of a computer, consisting of an element of its physical structure capable of being in either of two states, such as a switch with on and off positions, or a microscopic magnet capable of alignment in two directions
"small piece," c.1200; related Old English bite "act of biting," and bita "piece bitten off," probably are the source of the modern words meaning "boring-piece of a drill" (1590s), "mouthpiece of a horse's bridle" (mid-14c.), and "a piece bitten off, morsel" (c.1000). All from Proto-Germanic *biton (cf. Old Saxon biti, Old Norse bit, Old Frisian bite, Middle Dutch bete, Old High German bizzo "biting," German Bissen "a bite, morsel"), from PIE root *bheid- "to split" (see fissure).
Meaning "small piece, fragment" is from c.1600. Sense of "short space of time" is 1650s. Theatrical bit part is from 1909. Money sense in two bits, etc. is originally from Southern U.S. and West Indies, in reference to silver wedges cut or stamped from Spanish dollars (later Mexican reals); transferred to "eighth of a dollar."
bit
n.2
computerese word, 1948 abbreviation coined by U.S. computer pioneer John W. Tukey (1915-2000) of binary digit, probably chosen for its identity with bit (n.1).
The smallest unit of computer memory. A bit holds one of two possible values, either of the binary digits 0 or 1. The term comes from the phrase binary digit. See Note at byte.
The smallest unit of information. One bit corresponds to a “yes” or “no.” Some examples of a bit of information: whether a light is on or off, whether a switch (like a transistor) is on or off, whether a grain of magnetized iron points up or down.
Note
The information in a digital computer is stored in the form of bits.
Also, little by little. Gradually, by small degrees, slowly. For example, The squirrels dug up the lawn bit by bit, till we had almost no grass, or Little by little he began to understand what John was getting at. The first term was first recorded in 1849, although bit in the sense of “small amount” is much older; the variant dates from the 1400s.
