What does bit mean?

What does bit mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does bit mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[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)[n] a small fragment of something broken off from the whole(a bit of rock caught him in the eye)[n] an indefinitely short time(wait just a moment in a mo it only takes a minute

bit

bit - The Free Dictionary

[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)

[n] a small fragment of something broken off from the whole
(a bit of rock caught him in the eye)

[n] an indefinitely short time
(wait just a moment in a mo it only takes a minute in just a bit)

[n] an instance of some kind
(it was a nice piece of work he had a bit of good luck)

[n] 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)

[n] 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)

[n] a small amount of solid food; a mouthful
(all they had left was a bit of bread)

[n] a small fragment
(overheard snatches of their conversation)

[n] 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)

[n] the part of a key that enters a lock and lifts the tumblers

[n] 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)

Other vocabulary

b, b battery, b cell, b complex, b horizon, b lymphocyte, b vitamin, b-52, b-complex vitamin, b-flat clarinet, b-girl, b-horizon, b-meson, b-scan ultrasonography, b. b. king, b. f. skinner, b.c., b.c.e., b.o., b.t.u., b.th.u., ba, baa, baa-lamb, baader meinhof gang, baader-meinhof gang, baal, baal merodach, baas, baba, i, i chronicles, i corinthians, i esdra, i john, i kings, i maccabees, i peter, i samuel, i thessalonians, i timothy, i-beam, i. a. richards, i. f. stone, i. m. pei, i.d., i.e., i.e.d., i.q., i.w.w., ia, iaa, iaea, iago, iamb, iambic, iambus, ian douglas smith, ian fleming, ian lancaster fleming

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.