Bit : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: Bit	by the DICT Development Group
11 results for Bit
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
bit n a small piece or quantity of something; "a spot of tea"; "a bit of paper"; "a bit of lint"; "I gave him a bit of my mind" Synonym(s): spot, bit a small fragment of something broken off from the whole; "a bit of rock caught him in the eye" Synonym(s): bit, chip, flake, fleck, scrap an indefinitely short time; "wait just a moment"; "in a mo"; "it only takes a minute"; "in just a bit" Synonym(s): moment, mo, minute, second, bit an instance of some kind; "it was a nice piece of work"; "he had a bit of good luck" Synonym(s): piece, bit 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" 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" a small amount of solid food; a mouthful; "all they had left was a bit of bread" Synonym(s): morsel, bit, bite a small fragment; "overheard snatches of their conversation" Synonym(s): snatch, bit 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" Synonym(s): act, routine, number, turn, bit the part of a key that enters a lock and lifts the tumblers 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"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bit \Bit\, n. In the British West Indies, a fourpenny piece, or groat.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bit \Bit\, 3d sing. pr. of {Bid}, for biddeth. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bit \Bit\, n. [OE. bitt, bite, AS. bite, bite, fr. b[c6]tan to bite. See {Bite}, n. & v., and cf. {Bit} a morsel.] 1. The part of a bridle, usually of iron, which is inserted in the mouth of a horse, and having appendages to which the reins are fastened. --Shak. The foamy bridle with the bit of gold. --Chaucer. 2. Fig.: Anything which curbs or restrains.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bit \Bit\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Bitted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Bitting}.] To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bit \Bit\, imp. & p. p. of {Bite}.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bit \Bit\, n. [OE. bite, AS. bita, fr. b[c6]tan to bite; akin to D. beet, G. bissen bit, morsel, Icel. biti. See {Bite}, v., and cf. {Bit} part of a bridle.] 1. A part of anything, such as may be bitten off or taken into the mouth; a morsel; a bite. Hence: A small piece of anything; a little; a mite. 2. Somewhat; something, but not very great. My young companion was a bit of a poet. --T. Hook. Note: This word is used, also, like jot and whit, to express the smallest degree; as, he is not a bit wiser. 3. A tool for boring, of various forms and sizes, usually turned by means of a brace or bitstock. See {Bitstock}. 4. The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers. --Knight. 5. The cutting iron of a plane. --Knight. 6. In the Southern and Southwestern States, a small silver coin (as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12 1/2 cents; also, the sum of 12 1/2 cents. {Bit my bit}, piecemeal. --Pope.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bite \Bite\, v. t. [imp. {Bit}; p. p. {Bitten}, {Bit}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Biting}.] [OE. biten, AS. b[c6]tan; akin to D. bijten, OS. b[c6]tan, OHG. b[c6]zan, G. beissen, Goth. beitan, Icel. b[c6]ta, Sw. bita, Dan. bide, L. findere to cleave, Skr. bhid to cleave. [root]87. Cf. {Fissure}.] 1. To seize with the teeth, so that they enter or nip the thing seized; to lacerate, crush, or wound with the teeth; as, to bite an apple; to bite a crust; the dog bit a man. Such smiling rogues as these, Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain. --Shak. 2. To puncture, abrade, or sting with an organ (of some insects) used in taking food. 3. To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the mouth. [bd]Frosts do bite the meads.[b8] --Shak. 4. To cheat; to trick; to take in. [Colloq.] --Pope. 5. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to; as, the anchor bites the ground. The last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, . . . it turned and turned with nothing to bite. --Dickens. {To bite the dust}, {To bite the ground}, to fall in the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the dust. {To bite in} (Etching), to corrode or eat into metallic plates by means of an acid. {To bite the thumb at} (any one), formerly a mark of contempt, designed to provoke a quarrel; to defy. [bd]Do you bite your thumb at us?[b8] --Shak. {To bite the tongue}, to keep silence. --Shak.
From Jargon File (4.2.0, 31 JAN 2000) [jargon]:
bit n. [from the mainstream meaning and `Binary digIT'] 1. [techspeak] The unit of information; the amount of information obtained by asking a yes-or-no question for which the two outcomes are equally probable. 2. [techspeak] A computational quantity that can take on one of two values, such as true and false or 0 and 1. 3. A mental flag: a reminder that something should be done eventually. "I have a bit set for you." (I haven't seen you for a while, and I'm supposed to tell or ask you something.) 4. More generally, a (possibly incorrect) mental state of belief. "I have a bit set that says that you were the last guy to hack on EMACS." (Meaning "I think you were the last guy to hack on EMACS, and what I am about to say is predicated on this, so please stop me if this isn't true.") "I just need one bit from you" is a polite way of indicating that you intend only a short interruption for a question that can presumably be answered yes or no. A bit is said to be `set' if its value is true or 1, and `reset' or `clear' if its value is false or 0. One speaks of setting and clearing bits. To {toggle} or `invert' a bit is to change it, either from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0. See also {flag}, {trit}, {mode bit}. The term `bit' first appeared in print in the computer-science sense in 1949, and seems to have been coined by early statistician and computer scientist John Tukey. Tukey records that it evolved over a lunch table as a handier alternative to `bigit' or `binit'.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]:
bit (b) {binary} digit. The unit of information; the amount of information obtained by asking a yes-or-no question; a computational quantity that can take on one of two values, such as false and true or 0 and 1; the smallest unit of storage - sufficient to hold one bit. A bit is said to be "set" if its value is true or 1, and "reset" or "clear" if its value is false or 0. One speaks of setting and clearing bits. To {toggle} or "invert" a bit is to change it, either from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0. The term "bit" first appeared in print in the computer-science sense in 1949, and seems to have been coined by the eminent statistician, {John Tukey}. Tukey records that it evolved over a lunch table as a handier alternative to "bigit" or "binit". See also {flag}, {trit}, {mode bit}, {byte}, {word}. [{Jargon File}] (2002-01-22)
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Bit the curb put into the mouths of horses to restrain them. The Hebrew word (metheg) so rendered in Ps. 32:9 is elsewhere translated "bridle" (2 Kings 19:28; Prov. 26:3; Isa. 37:29). Bits were generally made of bronze or iron, but sometimes also of gold or silver. In James 3:3 the Authorized Version translates the Greek word by "bits," but the Revised Version by "bridles."