Noun (2)
she left only a bit of the broccoli on her plate bits of cookie scattered on the table
I'll have only a bit of food right now
this will only take a bit
known for a comedic bit in which she portrayed a very nervous student driver
wielding silver trays, the servers offered partygoers a variety of exotic-looking bits
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The footage, recently released by the Tulsa Fire Department, showed how the fire began after a dog bit through the housing of a portable lithium-ion battery power bank intended to charge cellphones.—Christopher Brito, CBS News, 7 Aug. 2024 Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark star as a none-too-happy British couple living on his family’s rugged, isolated land — rooted in a nasty bit of back history — way out in the country.—Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 7 Aug. 2024
Verb
Loading your audio article A shark that bit a swimmer in Del Mar last month, leaving the man hospitalized with significant wounds, was a juvenile white shark, likely around 9 feet long and 6 to 8 years old.—Karen Kucher, The Mercury News, 12 July 2024 Meanwhile, state wildlife officials have euthanized the gator that bit her.—Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 18 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for bit
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bit.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English bite, bit "bite of an animal, cutting edge, point, mouthpiece of a bridle," going back to Old English bite "bite of an animal, cut from a weapon," going back to Germanic *biti- (whence Old Saxon biti "bite, sting," Old High German biz [gebiz "mouthpiece of a bridle"], Old Norse bit), noun derivative from the base of *bītan- "to bite" — more at bite entry 1
Middle English bite, bit "mouthful of food, morsel," going back to Old English bita, bite, going back to Germanic *bitan- (whence Middle Dutch bete "morsel," Old High German bizzo, Old Norse biti), noun derivative from the base of *bītan- "to bite" — more at bite entry 1
Noun (3)
from binary digit
Note:
The term bit was introduced into general circulation by Claude shannon in "A Mathematical Theory of Communication," Bell System Technical Journal, vol. 27, July, 1948, p. 380: "The choice of a logarithmic base corresponds to the choice of a unit for measuring information. If the base 2 is used the resulting units may be called binary digits, or more briefly bits, a word suggested by J.W. Tukey." The American mathematician John W. Tukey (1915-2000) had used the word in a Bell Labs memorandum, "Sequential Conversion of Continuous Data to Digital Data," dated January 9, 1947. Tukey employed bit as a counterpart in a binary system to digit in the decimal system. For details see "The Origin of Bit" in the "Anecdotes" section of Annals of the History of Computing, vol 6, no. 2 (April, 1984), pp. 152-55.
First Known Use
Noun (1)
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)
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