bit

bit
    n 1: 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" [syn: {spot}, {bit}]
    2: a small fragment of something broken off from the whole; "a
       bit of rock caught him in the eye" [syn: {bit}, {chip},
       {flake}, {fleck}, {scrap}]
    3: an indefinitely short time; "wait just a moment"; "in a mo";
       "it only takes a minute"; "in just a bit" [syn: {moment},
       {mo}, {minute}, {second}, {bit}]
    4: an instance of some kind; "it was a nice piece of work"; "he
       had a bit of good luck" [syn: {piece}, {bit}]
    5: 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"
    6: 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"
    7: a small amount of solid food; a mouthful; "all they had left
       was a bit of bread" [syn: {morsel}, {bit}, {bite}]
    8: a small fragment; "overheard snatches of their conversation"
       [syn: {snatch}, {bit}]
    9: 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" [syn: {act}, {routine}, {number}, {turn}, {bit}]
    10: the part of a key that enters a lock and lifts the tumblers
    11: 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"
    

Bit \Bit\ (Computers) [binary digit.]
   1. the smallest unit of information, equivalent to a choice
      between two alternatives, as yes or no; on or off.
      [PJC]

   2. (Computers) the physical representation of a bit of
      information in a computer memory or a data storage medium.
      Within a computer circuit a bit may be represented by the
      state of a current or an electrical charge; in a magnetic
      storage medium it may be represented by the direction of
      magnetization; on a punched card or on paper tape it may
      be represented by the presence or absence of a hole at a
      particular point on the card or tape.
      [PJC]

   {Bit my bit}, piecemeal. --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Bit \Bit\ (b[i^]t), n. [OE. bitt, bite, AS. bite, bite, fr.
   b[imac]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.
      [1913 Webster]

            The foamy bridle with the bit of gold. --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Fig.: Anything which curbs or restrains.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Bit \Bit\, n.
   In the British West Indies, a fourpenny piece, or groat.
   [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
    

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.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Bit \Bit\, n. [OE. bite, AS. bita, fr. b[imac]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.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Somewhat; something, but not very great.
      [1913 Webster]

            My young companion was a bit of a poet. --T. Hook.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: This word is used, also, like jot and whit, to express
         the smallest degree; as, he is not a bit wiser.
         [1913 Webster]

   3. A tool for boring, of various forms and sizes, usually
      turned by means of a brace or bitstock. See {Bitstock}.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the
      bolt and tumblers. --Knight.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. The cutting iron of a plane. --Knight.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Bit \Bit\,
   imp. & p. p. of {Bite}.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Bite \Bite\ (b[imac]t), v. t. [imp. {Bit} (b[i^]t); p. p.
   {Bitten} (b[i^]t"t'n), {Bit}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Biting}.] [OE.
   biten, AS. b[imac]tan; akin to D. bijten, OS. b[imac]tan,
   OHG. b[imac]zan, G. beissen, Goth. beitan, Icel. b[imac]ta,
   Sw. bita, Dan. bide, L. findere to cleave, Skr. bhid to
   cleave. [root]87. Cf. {Fissure}.]
   [1913 Webster]
   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Such smiling rogues as these,
            Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To puncture, abrade, or sting with an organ (of some
      insects) used in taking food.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure,
      in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the
      mouth. "Frosts do bite the meads." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To cheat; to trick; to take in. [Colloq.] --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to; as, the
      anchor bites the ground.
      [1913 Webster]

            The last screw of the rack having been turned so
            often that its purchase crumbled, . . . it turned
            and turned with nothing to bite.      --Dickens.
      [1913 Webster]

   {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. "Do you
      bite your thumb at us?" --Shak.

   {To bite the tongue}, to keep silence. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Bit \Bit\,
   3d sing. pr. of {Bid}, for biddeth. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]
    

bit
 n.

   [from the mainstream meaning and "Binary digIT"]

   1. [techspeak] The unit of information; the amount of information
   obtained from knowing the answer to 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
   a 1948 paper by information theorist Claude Shannon, and was there
   credited to the early computer scientist John Tukey (who also seems to
   have coined the term software). Tukey records that bit evolved over a
   lunch table as a handier alternative to bigit or binit, at a
   conference in the winter of 1943-44.
    

bit

   <unit> (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)
    

BIT
       Basic Interconnection Test (ISO 9646-1)
       
    

BIT
       Binary digIT
       
    

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."
    

469 Moby Thesaurus words for "bit":
      ALGOL, COBOL, EDP, FORTRAN, a breath, a continental, a curse,
      a damn, a darn, a hoot, ace, act, actor, aculeus, acumination,
      afterpiece, allotment, allowance, alphabetic data,
      alphanumeric code, anchor watch, angular data, antagonist,
      antihero, arrest, assembler, atom, auger, back band, backstrap,
      bagatelle, bauble, bean, bearing rein, bellyband, bibelot, big end,
      bigger half, binary digit, binary scale, binary system, bit part,
      bite, blinders, blinds, borer, bowshot, brake, brass farthing,
      breeching, bridle, brief span, budget, bug, butt, button, byte,
      caparison, cast, cavesson, cent, chain, channel, character, chaser,
      check, checkrein, cheekpiece, chinband, chip, chock, chunk, cinch,
      cipher, clip, clipping, clog, close quarters, close range, collar,
      collop, command pulses, commands, commission,
      communication explosion, communication theory, compiler,
      computer code, computer language, computer program, constrain,
      contingent, control signals, controlled quantity,
      correcting signals, countercheck, crack, crownband, crumb, crupper,
      cue, curb, curb bit, curio, curtain, curtain call, curtain raiser,
      cusp, cut, cutting, dab, damper, data, data retrieval,
      data storage, day shift, deal, decoding, destiny, digit,
      divertimento, divertissement, dividend, dogwatch, dole, dollop,
      doorstop, dot, drag, drag sail, dram, dribble, driblet,
      drift anchor, drift sail, drill, drogue, drop, dwarf, earreach,
      earshot, electronic data processing, encoding, end, entropy,
      epilogue, equal share, error, error signals, exode, exodus,
      expository scene, farce, farthing, fat part, fate, feather,
      feedback pulses, feedback signals, feeder, fetter, fig, figure,
      film data, finale, fleabite, fleck, flyspeck, folderol, fragment,
      fribble, frippery, full time, gag swivel, gaud, gewgaw, gimcrack,
      girth, gob, gobbet, grain, granule, graveyard shift, groat,
      gunshot, hackamore, hair, hair space, hairbreadth, hairsbreadth,
      half, half rations, half time, halfpenny, halter, halver, hames,
      hametugs, handful, harness, headgear, headstall, heavy, helping,
      hero, heroine, hexadecimal system, hill of beans, hip straps,
      hoke act, hold back, hold down, hold in, holdback, hunk, inch,
      information, information explosion, information theory, ingenue,
      inhibit, input data, input quantity, instant, instructions,
      interest, interlude, intermezzo, intermission, introduction, iota,
      jaquima, jerk line, jest, joke, jot, kickshaw, knickknack,
      knickknackery, lead, lead role, leading lady, leading man,
      leading woman, lines, little, little bit, little ways,
      little while, lobster trick, lot, lota, lump, machine language,
      martingale, measure, meed, mere subsistence, mess, message,
      minikin, minim, minimum, minutiae, mite, mockery, modicum, moiety,
      molecule, molehill, moment, morsel, mote, mouthful, mucro,
      multiple messages, neb, needle, nib, night shift, no time, noise,
      noseband, notation, number, numeral, numeric data, numero,
      nutshell, octal system, oscillograph data, ounce, output data,
      output quantity, overtime, pair of winks, paring, part, part time,
      particle, pebble, pelham, peppercorn, percentage, person,
      personage, picayune, piece, pin, pinch, pinch of snuff, pinprick,
      pistol shot, pittance, play, point, polar data, pole strap,
      portion, prick, prickle, prologue, proportion, protagonist,
      punch-card data, quantum, quota, rake-off, random data, rap,
      rasher, ration, rectangular data, red cent, redundancy,
      reference quantity, reins, relay, remora, ribbons, role, routine,
      row of pins, ruly English, rush, saddle, scene, scoop, scotch,
      scrap, scrimption, scruple, sea anchor, segment, shackle,
      shaft tug, shard, share, shaving, shift, shit, shiver,
      short allowance, short commons, short distance, short piece,
      short spell, short time, short way, shred, shtick, side,
      side check, sign, signal, signals, single messages, sketch, skit,
      slice, sliver, small share, small space, smidgen, smitch,
      smithereen, snack, snaffle, snap, snatch, sneeshing, snip, snippet,
      song and dance, sou, soubrette, space, span, speck, spell,
      spitting distance, splinter, split schedule, split shift, spoke,
      spoonful, spot, spurt, stake, stand-up comedy act,
      starvation wages, stay, step, sting, stint, stitch, stock, stop,
      straight part, straw, stretch, striptease, stump, sunrise watch,
      supporting character, supporting role, surcingle, swing shift,
      symbol, tack, tackle, tatter, thimbleful, time, tiny bit, tip,
      title role, tittle, tour, tour of duty, toy, trammel, trappings,
      trick, trifle, trifling amount, trinket, trivia, triviality, tug,
      tuppence, turn, turn of work, two cents, two shakes, twopence,
      unorganized data, villain, visible-speech data, walk-on,
      walking part, watch, whet, whim-wham, whit, winker braces,
      withhold, work shift, yoke