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# bit

«bit» in Mova's school dictionary: **a small piece or small amount of something: a bit of cake** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a bit, bits); verb form (past tense of bite: bite, bites, bit, bitten, biting)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A bit is a small piece or small amount of something: a bit of cake. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#m1)

2) «A bit» means a little, slightly: I'm a bit tired. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#m2)

3) «A bit» can mean a short time: wait a bit. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#m3)

4) Bit is the past form of «bite»: the dog bit him. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#m4)

5) A bit is the metal bar in a horse's mouth, or the drilling end of a drill. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#m5)

6) In computers a bit is the smallest unit of information, a 0 or a 1. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#m6)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday talk «a bit» softens words: «a bit cold», «a bit late». In maths «a bit more» is a small, not exact, amount. In stories «bit» often appears as the past of bite («the snake bit him»). In computing, data is made of bits; eight bits make a byte. Phrases: a bit of, bit by bit, a little bit, not a bit, quite a bit, bits and pieces.

### examples

- Can I have a bit of your apple? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#x1)
- I'm a bit hungry. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#x2)
- Wait a bit; I'm nearly ready. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#x3)
- The dog bit the postman's trousers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#x4)
- Bit by bit, the snowman got bigger. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#x5)
- The vase broke into bits. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#x6)
- Computers store information in bits, ones and zeros. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#x7)
- I'm not a bit scared! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#x8)
- Harlequin and Pulcinella hesitated a bit. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/#x9)

### note

«A bit» + adjective (a bit cold); «a bit of» + noun (a bit of bread). «Quite a bit» can mean quite a lot. «Not a bit» means not at all. As a verb form: bite → bit (past) → bitten («has bitten»). In maths answers, «a bit» is not a number; use the exact amount.

### In the corpora

- [A good way to sort any bit of gossip is to ask four things.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/41-our-street-who-parked-where-and-who-won-what/3/)
- [A story passed from person to person is like a snowball rolling downhill: it picks up bits on the way.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/0/)
- [The first bits are often wrong.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/52-elections-crime-the-weather-breaking-news-and-news-vs-opinion/8/)
- [A bit of light gossip is fun, and most grown-ups enjoy it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/53-breakfast-and-chat-shows-celebrity-gossip-on-the-sofa/7/)
- [Which bits do you reckon they picked?" Alfie grins: "The shouty ones."](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/54-reality-tv-what-is-staged-and-what-is-real/7/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «bit» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bit/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.