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bit1

[bit]
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noun
  1. Machinery.
    1. a removable drilling or boring tool for use in a brace, drill press, or the like.
    2. a removable boring head used on certain kinds of drills, as a rock drill.
    3. a device for drilling oil wells or the like, consisting of a horizontally rotating blade or an assembly of rotating toothed wheels.
  2. the mouthpiece of a bridle, having fittings at each end to which the reins are fastened.
  3. anything that curbs or restrains.
  4. the blade or iron of a carpenter's plane.
  5. the cutting part of an ax or hatchet.
  6. the wide portion at the end of an ordinary key that moves the bolt.
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verb (used with object), bit·ted, bit·ting.
  1. to put a bit in the mouth of (a horse).
  2. to curb or restrain with, or as with, a bit.
  3. to grind a bit on (a key).
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Idioms
  1. take the bit in/between one's teeth, to cast off control; willfully go one's own way: He took the bit in his teeth and acted against his parents' wishes.
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Origin of bit1

before 900; Middle English bite, Old English: action of biting; cognate with German Biss, Old Norse bit. See bite
Related formsbit·less, adjective

bitt

[bit]Nautical
noun
  1. Also called bollard. a strong post of wood or iron projecting, usually in pairs, above the deck of a ship, used for securing cables, lines for towing, etc.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to wrap (a cable) around a bitt to secure it.
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Origin of bitt

Middle English, perhaps < Dutch or Low German; compare Dutch, Low German beting, in same sense, akin to Middle High German bizze wooden peg, Old Norse biti crossbeam

bit4

[bit]
verb
  1. simple past tense and a past participle of bite.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

hinderobstructdiscourageprohibitforbidsuppressoutlawstymierestraincurbimpedeconstraincontrolpreventhaltstopreducearrestinhibittame

Examples from the Web for bitted

Historical Examples

  • They're young thorough-breds,—most of them never backed; some not bitted.

    Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 2 (of 2)

    Charles Lever

  • So he was to be bitted and bridled, it seemed, in the future.

    Marriage la mode

    Mrs. Humphry Ward

  • So bitted as to enable the cable to be nipped or rendered with ease.

    The Sailor's Word-Book

    William Henry Smyth

  • He rides the biggest whirlwind—he has got it saddled and bitted.

    The Outcry

    Henry James

  • That great river, the river Euphrates, is bitted with its girders and caissons.

British Dictionary definitions for bitted

bitt

noun
  1. one of a pair of strong posts on the deck of a ship for securing mooring and other lines
  2. another word for bollard (def. 1)
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verb
  1. (tr) to secure (a line) by means of a bitt
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Word Origin

C14: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse biti cross beam, Middle High German bizze wooden peg

bit1

noun
  1. a small piece, portion, or quantity
  2. a short time or distance
  3. US and Canadian informal the value of an eighth of a dollar: spoken of only in units of twotwo bits
  4. any small coin
  5. short for bit part
  6. informal way of behaving, esp one intended to create a particular impressionshe's doing the prima donna bit
  7. a bit rather; somewhata bit dreary
  8. a bit of
    1. rathera bit of a dope
    2. a considerable amountthat must take quite a bit of courage
  9. a bit of all right, a bit of crumpet, a bit of stuff or a bit of tail British slang a sexually attractive woman
  10. bit by bit gradually
  11. bit on the side informal an extramarital affair
  12. do one's bit to make one's expected contribution
  13. every bit (foll by as) to the same degreeshe was every bit as clever as her brother
  14. not a bit or not a bit of it not in the slightest; not at all
  15. to bits completely apartto fall to bits
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Word Origin

Old English bite action of biting; see bite

bit2

noun
  1. a metal mouthpiece, for controlling a horse on a bridle
  2. anything that restrains or curbs
  3. 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
    1. to undertake a task with determination
    2. to rebel against control
  4. a cutting or drilling tool, part, or head in a brace, drill, etc
  5. the blade of a woodworking plane
  6. the part of a pair of pincers designed to grasp an object
  7. the copper end of a soldering iron
  8. the part of a key that engages the levers of a lock
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verb bits, bitting or bitted (tr)
  1. to put a bit in the mouth of (a horse)
  2. to restrain; curb
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Word Origin

Old English bita; related to Old English bītan to bite

bit3

verb
  1. the past tense and (archaic) past participle of bite
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bit4

noun maths computing
  1. a single digit of binary notation, represented either by 0 or by 1
  2. the smallest unit of information, indicating the presence or absence of a single feature
  3. 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
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Word Origin

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 bitted

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."

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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).

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bit

v.

past tense of bite.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
bitted in Science

bit

[bĭt]
  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.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
bitted in Culture

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.

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Note

The information in a digital computer is stored in the form of bits.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Idioms and Phrases with bitted

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
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.