bit

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See also Bit, and a bit

Contents

[edit] English

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Wikipedia

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology 1

From Old English bita and bite - all from Proto-Germanic *bitô, from Proto-Indo-European *bheid- (“to split”).

[edit] Noun

bit (plural bits)

  1. A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to reins to direct the animal.
    Horses hate having bits put in their mouth.
  2. A rotary cutting tool fitted to a drill, used to make holes.
  3. (US) An eighth of a dollar. Note that there is no coin minted worth 12.5 cents. (When this term first came into use, the Spanish 8 reales coin was widely used as a dollar equivalent, and thus the 1 real coin was equivalent to 12.5 cents.)
    A quarter is two bits.
  4. (dated, UK) A coin of a specified value. (Also used for a nine-pence coin in the British Caribbean.)
    A threepenny bit.
  5. A small amount of something.
    There were bits of paper all over the floor.
    Does your leg still hurt? / Just a bit now.
  6. Specifically, a small amount of time.
    I'll be there in a bit, I need to take care of something first.
    He was here just a bit ago, but it looks like he's stepped out.
  7. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought): A portion of something.
    I'd like a big bit of cake, please.
  8. (slang) A prison sentence.
    • 1904, The Anamosa prison press, volume 7, Iowa. Colony of Detention at Anamosa: 
      Had it not been for the influence of Mrs. Booth and Hope Hall I should still be grafting or doing a bit in some stir
    • 1916, Thomas Mott Osborne. Warden, Sing Sing Prison, N. Y., “Prison Reform”, The Journal of sociologic medicine, volume 17, page 407: 
      Before doing that I am going to tell you what was the result of my own incarceration, because I presume it may not be a secret to you, that I have done a "bit" myself, not the "bit" which the prosecuting attorney was so anxious to have me do.
    • 1994, Odie Hawkins, Lost Angeles, page 158:
      Chino didn't make me think of Dachau or that notorious joint in Angola, Louisiana, where a brother who had done a bit there told me how they used to cut the grass on the front lawn with their fingernails.
    • 2001, Andrew H. Vachss, Pain management:
      Not counting the days—that's okay for a county-time slap, but it'll make you crazy if you've got years to go on a felony bit.
  9. An excerpt of material from a composition or show.
    His bit about video games was not nearly as entertaining as the other segments of his show.
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Derived terms
terms derived from bit (noun)
[edit] Translations
metal in horse's mouth
rotary cutting tool
eighth of a dollar
coin — see coin
small piece
small amount of time
portion
slang: prison sentence
excerpt from stand-up repertoire
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] Adverb

bit (not comparable)

  1. To a small extent; in a small amount (usually with "a").
    That's a bit too sweet.

[edit] Etymology 2

See bite

[edit] Verb

bit

  1. Simple past of bite.
    Your dog bit me!

[edit] Etymology 3

Coined by John Tukey in 1946 as an abbreviation of binary digit, probably influenced by connotations of “small portion”.[1][2] First used in print 1948 by Claude Shannon. Compare byte and nybble.

[edit] Noun

bit (plural bits)

  1. (mathematics, computing) A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.
  2. (computing) The smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, consisting of a binary digit.
  3. (information theory, cryptography) Any datum that may take on one of exactly two values.
[edit] Synonyms
  • (smallest unit of storage): b
[edit] Derived terms
terms derived from bit (noun)
[edit] See also
[edit] Translations
binary digit
smallest unit of storage
datum that may take on one of exactly two values
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
  • Indonesian: bit (5,6)
  • Interlingua: bit (5,6)

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Anagrams

[edit] Czech

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology

Borrowed from English bit, from binary digit.

[edit] Noun

bit m.

  1. (computing) bit

[edit] Declension

    declension of bit
singular plural
nominative bit bity
genitive bitu bitů
dative bitu bitům
accusative bit bity
vocative bite bity
locative bitu bitech
instrumental bitem bity

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Dutch

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

bit n. (plural bitten, diminutive bitje)

  1. bit (for a working animal)
  2. bit (rotary cutting tool)

[edit] Noun

bit m. (plural bits, diminutive bitje)

  1. bit (binary digit)
  2. bit (unit of storage)
  3. bit (datum with two possible values)

[edit] French

[edit] Etymology

From English

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

bit m. (plural bits)

  1. (computing) bit

[edit] Nigerian Pidgin

[edit] Etymology

From English beat

[edit] Verb

bit

  1. beat

[edit] Serbo-Croatian

[edit] Etymology 1

From bȉti (“to be”)

[edit] Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bîːt/

[edit] Noun

bȋt m. (Cyrillic spelling би̑т)

  1. essence
[edit] Declension
    declension of bit
singular plural
nominative bȋt biti
genitive biti bítī
dative biti bitima
accusative bit biti
vocative biti biti
locative biti bitima
instrumental biti bitima

[edit] Etymology 2

From English bit

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

bȉt m. (Cyrillic spelling би̏т)

  1. (computing) bit
[edit] Declension
    declension of bit
singular plural
nominative bȉt bìtovi
genitive bita bitova
dative bitu bitovima
accusative bit bitove
vocative bite bitovi
locative bitu bitovima
instrumental bitom bitovima

[edit] Spanish

[edit] Noun

bit m. (plural bits)

  1. bit (binary digit)

[edit] Swedish

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology

Noun definitions 2 and 4: From English bit, from binary digit.

[edit] Noun

bit c.

  1. bit (small piece)
  2. bit (portion)
  3. bit (binary digit)
  4. bit (unit of storage)

[edit] Declension

Declension of bit
singular plural
Common indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative bit biten bitar bitarna
genitive bits bitens bitars bitarnas

[edit] Related terms

[edit] Verb

bit

  1. imperative of bita.

[edit] Turkish

[edit] Etymology

From Old Turkic bit, from Proto-Turkic *bɨt (“louse”).

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

bit

  1. louse

[edit] Declension

declension of bit
singular (tekil) plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın) bit bitler
definite accusative (belirtme) biti bitleri
dative (yönelme) bite bitlere
locative (bulunma) bitte bitlerde
ablative (çıkma) bitten bitlerden
genitive (tamlayan) bitin bitlerin

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] See also

[edit] Verb

bit

  1. end (imperative - see "bitmek")
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