Forms: 1–4 bite, 3–5 bytt, 4 byte, 4–6 byt, bitte, 6 bytte, 7–9 bitt, 6– bit. [Com. Teut.: OE. bite str. masc., ‘bite, biting’ OFris. bit, bite, biti, OS. biti, (MDu. bete, Du. beet), OHG., MHG. biȥ ‘piece bitten off,’ mod.G. bisz ‘biting,’ ON. bit ‘bite, bjting’ (Sw. bett, Da. bid, biden ‘bite’):—OTeut. *biti-z str. masc., f. bítan to BITE. As will be seen on comparing the next word, there were two OTeut. sbs. derived from this verb, of which the senses ‘act of biting,’ ‘piece bitten off,’ were not uniformly distinguished in the different langs. In OE., bite ‘act of biting, bite,’ and bita ‘piece bitten off, morsel, bit,’ were distinct, but both became bĭte, bit in ME., and both are now bit, so that they can be distinguished only by tracing the history of their senses. In the general sense the former is now represented by the later sb. BITE, but bit is retained in numerous specific uses, esp. that of the biting part of a tool.]
† I. Biting; what one bites. All Obs. or dial.
† 1. The act or action of biting; a BITE. At a bit: at one bite; also fig. Obs.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Orosius, I. vii. Gnættas comon ofer eall þæt land … mid fýrsmeortendum bitum.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 370. Hundes heafod ʓebærned to acxan … þa wedendan bitas ʓehæleþ.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8500. Adam … thoru a bitte [v.r. bitt, bite, bit] broght all in blam.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 5436. Her bytt envenymed was.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 37. Bytt, or bytynge, morsus.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 735. The fretting bit of the tooth of sin.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, III. xviii. (1647), 138. He … requested their aid only for forty days, hoping to chop up those Albigenses at a bit.
1653. Walton, Angler, 55. You may, if you stand close, be sure of a bit, but not sure to catch him.
† b. fig. The ‘bite’ or ‘sting’ of death, disease, etc.; hence, To be one’s bit: to be inimical or destructive to one. Obs.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 123. Morsus tuus ero inferne … þu helle ic wulle beon þin bite.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 288. Þeonne he … bit deaðes bite.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. x. 204. A bitte to helle [inferni morsus].
1609. Bible (Douay), Hosea xiii. 14. Thy bitte wil I be ô hel.
† 2. transf. The cutting or penetrating action of an edged weapon. Obs.
a. 1000. Beowulf, 4126. Æfter billes bite blod-faʓ swefeð.
a. 1000. Fata Apost. (Gr.), 34. Þurh sweordes bite.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 2436. Ich abide her þe bite of swordes egge.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, XV. 6494. Two speirus … of fell bite.
† b. A catching hold with a sharp edge; grip.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, XI. 4702. Þai … cast ancres with cables þat kene were of byt.
† 3. The action of biting food; eating; grazing. Hence † bit-grass. Obs.
1523. Fitzherb., Surv., 4. The whole commen is his owne, and his tenauntes haue … onely bytte of mouthe with their catell.
a. 1600. in Risdon’s Surv. Devon, § 308 (1810), 315. Bitt grass for all hys beasts.
1624. Sanderson, Serm. (1681), I. 244. An heifer … going alwayes at full bit. Ibid. (1635), 2 Serm. St. Paul’s, i. 57. An idle servant … good at bit, and nothing else.
4. Food to bite, victuals. Chiefly dial.
1719. Scot. Presbyt. Eloq., 36 (Jam.). He desires no more in the world, but a bit and a brat; that is only as much food and raiment as nature craves.
a. 1845. Hood, Sweep’s Compl. Here’s a precious merry Christmas; I’m blest if I can earn either bit or sup!
1863. Kingsley, Water Bab., i. 41. Some one will give me a bit and a sup.
II. The ‘biting’ part of anything.
† 5. The cutting blade or edge of an edged tool, ax, spade, etc. (obs.); the point of a pickax.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 4808. The Bite was to fot long.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, XVI. 7316. With the bit of his blade … He clefe hym to the coler.
1660. Sharrock, Vegetables, 109. Get a strong hoe, of a good broad bit.
1677. Grew, Anat. Seeds, iv. § 14. The Lobes … are shaped like the Bitt of a Spade.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., O iij. We strike or hit … with the Bit or Point of the Hack.
6. The biting or cutting end or part of a tool; spec. the movable boring-piece of a drill (e.g., brace and bit, stock and bit), or a similar tool for use with the ratchet, drilling machine, boring machine, etc.; the borer for clearing the vent of a gun; the cutting-iron of a plane, the nipping parts or jaws of tongs, pincers, and similar tools.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., I. 27. A long Auger or Percer, with seuerall large bittes which he may put on and take off at his pleasure.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 94. The Gimblet … hath a Worm at the end of its Bitt.
1693. Lister, in Phil. Trans., XVII. 869. The superlative hardning of the Heads and Bitts of Tools.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), K. The bit, or priming-iron, is a kind of large needle … serving to clear the inside of the touch hole.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 253. The Stock is accompanied with several bits, or cutters, made of steel.
1881. Greener, Gun, 234. The fine-boring bit … tends in a great measure to set the barrel tolerably straight.
b. Comb., as bit-brace, -holder, -stock.
1881. Young, Every Man his own Mechanic, § 266. 100. The bit-brace, or stock-and-bit, is the principal tool in the second division of boring tools.
7. The part of a key, at right angles to the barrel or shank, which grips the levers of the lock.
1644. MS. Louth (Lincoln.) Churchw. Acc. For one new bit for a key 4d.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 24. To every Ward on the Plates, you must make a Slit, or Ward in the Bit of the Key.
1855. A. Hobbs, Locks, v. (1868), 58. Bit or Bitt, is the name given, somewhat indefinitely, either to the whole flat part of a key, or to the small stepped portions of it.
8. The mouthpiece of a horse’s bridle, consisting of the metal bit-mouth, and adjacent parts, to which the reins are attached. (It is not clear whether the word in this sense signifies that which the horse bites, or that which bites or grips the horse’s mouth. OE. had bitol bridle, frænum; ON. bitull, bitill bit of a bridle; the Da. is bid, Sw. bett, Du. gebit, Ger. gebisz.)
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2310. With þe barbe of þe bitte bi þe bare nek.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1208. The fomy brydil with the bit [v.r. bitte] of gold.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 37. Bytt of a brydylle, lupatum.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. iii. 23. Stop their mouthes with stubborn Bits & spurre ’em.
1731. Bailey, Dict., Bitt [with Horsemen], in general signifies the whole machine of a bridle, as the bit-mouth, the branches, the curb, the sevil holes, the tranchefil, and the cross-chains; sometimes it is used only for the bit-mouth in particular.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Prometh. Bd., I. 160. Steeds that love the bit They champ at.
b. fig.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 139. I wyll brydell the with rough byt, wife.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Wks., 8/1. Not feeling honour’s bit, nor reason’s rein.
1789. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Wks. (1812), II. 118. Now calmly Camden takes the bit, And trots so mildly under Master Pitt.
c. transf. A like contrivance in any apparatus.
1660. Maq. Worcester, Water-comm. Engine, 15. The … Engine [has] A Helm or Stern with Bitt and Reins, wherewith any Child may … controul the whole Operation.
d. To draw bit: to stop one’s horse by pulling at the reins; hence fig., to stop, slacken speed. To take the bit in his teeth (of a horse): i.e., so that it cannot hurt the mouth; hence, to become unmanageable, to be beyond restraint; also fig.
1600. Abp. Abbot, Exp. Jonah, 521. Neither yet taking the bit perversely in his teeth.
1664. Butler, Hud., II. III. 560. And for three years has rid your Wit And Passion without drawing Bit.
1782. Cowper, Table Talk, 685. Spendthrift … never drawing bit.
1857. Ruskin, Pol. Econ. Art, 28. If he takes the bit fairly in his teeth.
e. comb., as bit-bridle, -maker, -mouth, -rein.
1577. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep., 72. Alexander the Great did write unto Pulion his Bitmaker.
1676. Lond. Gaz., No. 1078/4. A brown leather Saddle … and a Bitt Bridle.
1766. Entick, London, IV. 73. This company of Loriners or Bitt-makers.
1833. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 44. The bridoon is to be taken in the same manner as the bit reins.
9. techn. Applied to parts of various mechanical contrivances; e.g., the copper head of a soldering-iron; a short sliding piece of tube in a cornet for modifying the tone; the joint connecting the stretcher and rib of an umbrella; the earlike projections above the bowl of a spoon.
1703. Lond. Gaz., No. 3895/4. 7 Silver Spoons, no Marks, but branched on the tops, and the outsides of the Bits, etc.
