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bit

  • noun
  • bĭt

A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to the reins to direct the animal.

Example

“A horse hates having a bit put in its mouth.”

Other meanings

  1. A rotary cutting tool, fitted to a drill, brace or router, used to bore or drill holes or to remove material from the profile of the workpiece.

  2. Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.

Synonyms

  • spot

Example sentences

  • “It's a bit silly, don't you think?”

    Tatoeba · shekitten · CC0

  • “More than that is a bit too much.”

    Tatoeba · AmarMecheri · CC0

  • “I thought he was doing a bit.”

    Tatoeba · ddnktr · CC0

Word history

From Old English "bita" (bit; fragment; morsel).

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “bit” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.