bit

[ bit ]

/ bɪt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bit ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a small piece or quantity of anything: a bit of string.

a short time: Wait a bit.

Informal. an amount equivalent to 12½ U.S. cents (used only in even multiples): two bits; six bits.

an act, performance, or routine: She's doing the Camille bit, pretending to be near collapse.

a stereotypic or habitual set of behaviors, attitudes, or styles associated with an individual, role, situation, etc.: the whole Wall Street bit.

Also called bit part. a very small role, as in a play or motion picture, containing few or no lines.Compare walk-on(def 1).

any small coin: a threepenny bit.

a Spanish or Mexican silver real worth 12½ cents, formerly current in parts of the U.S.

RELATED WORDS

gradually, piecemeal, inchmeal

Nearby words

bisulphate, bisulphide, bisulphite, bisutun, bisymmetric, bit, bit between one's teeth, bit by bit, bit gauge, bit key, bit part

Idioms

a bit, rather or somewhat; a little: a bit sleepy.

a bit much, somewhat overdone or beyond tolerability.

bit by bit, by degrees; gradually: Having saved money bit by bit, they now had enough to buy the land.

do one's bit, to contribute one's share to an effort: They all did their bit during the war.

every bit, quite; just: every bit as good.

quite a bit, a fairly large amount: There's quite a bit of snow on the ground.

Origin of bit

before 1000; Middle English bite, Old English bita bit, morsel; cognate with German Bissen, Old Norse biti. See bite

SYNONYMS FOR bit

1 particle, speck, grain, mite; whit, iota, jot; scrap, fragment.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bit ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for bit by bit (1 of 4)

bit

/ (bɪt) /

noun

a small piece, portion, or quantity

a short time or distance

US and Canadian informal the value of an eighth of a dollar: spoken of only in units of twotwo bits

any small coin

short for bit part

informal way of behaving, esp one intended to create a particular impressionshe's doing the prima donna bit

a bit rather; 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 stuff or a bit of tail British slang a sexually attractive woman

bit by bit gradually

bit on the side informal an extramarital affair

do one's bit to make one's expected contribution

every bit (foll by as) to the same degreeshe was every bit as clever as her brother

not a bit or not a bit of it not in the slightest; not at all

to bits completely apartto fall to bits

Word Origin for bit

Old English bite action of biting; see bite

British Dictionary definitions for bit by bit (2 of 4)

bit

/ (bɪt) /

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 teeth or have 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

verb bits, bitting or bitted (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

British Dictionary definitions for bit by bit (3 of 4)

bit

/ (bɪt) /

verb

the past tense and (archaic) past participle of bite

British Dictionary definitions for bit by bit (4 of 4)

bit

⁴

/ (bɪt) /

noun maths computing

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

Word Origin for bit

C20: from abbreviation of binary digit

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bit by bit (1 of 3)

bit

n.1

"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."

Word Origin and History for bit by bit (1 of 3)

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).

Word Origin and History for bit by bit (2 of 3)

bit

past tense of bite.

Science definitions for bit by bit

bit

[ bĭt ]

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.

Culture definitions for bit by bit

bit

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.

Idioms and Phrases with bit by bit (1 of 2)

bit by bit

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.

Idioms and Phrases with bit by bit (2 of 2)

bit

In addition to the idiom beginning with bit

bit by bit
bite off more than one can chew
bite one's nails
bite one's tongue
bite someone's head off
bite the bullet
bite the dust
bite the hand that feeds you

also see:

a bit
champ at the bit
do one's bit
every bit
not a bit
quite a bit
take the bit in one's mouth
two bits

bit

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bit

noun

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bit

noun

Word Origin for bit

British Dictionary definitions for bit by bit (3 of 4)

bit

verb

British Dictionary definitions for bit by bit (4 of 4)

bit

noun maths computing

Word Origin for bit

Word Origin and History for bit by bit (1 of 3)

bit

Word Origin and History for bit by bit (1 of 3)

bit

Word Origin and History for bit by bit (2 of 3)

bit

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bit

Culture definitions for bit by bit

bit

Note

Idioms and Phrases with bit by bit (1 of 2)

bit by bit

Idioms and Phrases with bit by bit (2 of 2)

bit

noun

British Dictionary definitions for bit by bit (1 of 4)