Bit vs Less - What's the difference?
bit | less |
A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to reins to direct the animal.
A rotary cutting tool fitted to a drill, used to bore holes.
(dated, British) A coin of a specified value. (Also used for a nine-pence coin in the British Caribbean)
(US) An eighth of a dollar. Note that there is no coin minted worth 12.5 cents. (When this term first came into use, the Spanish 8 reales coin was widely used as a dollar equivalent, and thus the 1 real coin was equivalent to 12.5 cents.)
(historical, US) In the southern and southwestern states, a small silver coin (such as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12½ cents; also, the sum of 12½ cents.
A small amount of something.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=15 (informal) Specifically , a small amount of time.
A portion of something.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= Somewhat; something, but not very great; also used like jot and whit to express the smallest degree.
* T. Hook
(slang) A prison sentence, especially a short one.
*
*
*
*
(An excerpt of material) An excerpt of material making up part of a show, comedy routine, etc.
The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers.
The cutting iron of a plane.
To a small extent; in a small amount (usually with "a").
To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of (a horse).
(bite)
, bitten
(label) bitten.
(label) Having been bitten.
*
*
*
1946] First used in print 1948 by (Claude Shannon). Compare (byte) and (nybble).
(mathematics, computing) A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.
(computing) The smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, consisting of a binary digit.
(information theory, cryptography) Any datum that may take on one of exactly two values.
(information theory) A unit of measure for information entropy.
* {{quote-web, date = 2011-05-17
, author = Lisa Grossman
, title = Entropy Is Universal Rule of Language
, site = Wired Science
, url = http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/05/universal-entropy/
, accessdate = 2012-09-26}}
To smaller extent.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= In lower degree.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8
, passage=I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.}}
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times
, passage=That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past. }}
* 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 141:
A smaller amount (of); not as much.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= (proscribed) A smaller number of; fewer.
* 1952 , Thomas M Pryor, New York Times , 7 Sep 1952:
* 1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam 2011, p. 555:
* 2003 , Timandra Harkness, The Guardian , 16 Dec 2003:
Minus; not including
(obsolete) To make less; to lessen.
As verbs the difference between bit and less
is that bit is to beat (to strike or pound repeatedly) while less is (obsolete) to make less; to lessen.As an adverb less is
to smaller extent.As an adjective less is
.As a preposition less is
minus; not including.As a conjunction less is
(obsolete) unless.bit
English
(wikipedia bit)Etymology 1
From (etyl) bita and bite - all from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’}}
Catherine Clabby
Focus on Everything, passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.
- Am I bored? Not a bit of it!
- My young companion was a bit of a poet.
- (Knight)
- (Knight)
Synonyms
* (coin) coin, piece * (small piece) morsel (of food), piece, scrap * (portion) portion, share, segment * (horse equipment) snaffle, pelham, kimberwickeDerived terms
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Adverb
(-)- That's a bit too sweet.
Verb
(bitt)Etymology 2
See biteVerb
(head)- Your dog bit me!
- I have been bit by your dog!
Adjective
(-)Etymology 3
Coined by (John Tukey) in 1946 as an abbreviation of (binary digit), probably influenced by connotations of “small portion”.[http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/98/q2/0602-honorary.html][http://www.thocp.net/timeline/1944.htmNoun
(en noun)- status bits''' on IRC; permission '''bits in a file system
- The researchers found that the original texts spanned a variety of entropy values in different languages, reflecting differences in grammar and structure.
But strangely, the difference in entropy between the original, ordered text and the randomly scrambled text was constant across languages. This difference is a way to measure the amount of information encoded in word order, Montemurro says. The amount of information lost when they scrambled the text was about 3.5 bits per word.
Synonyms
* (smallest unit of storage) bDerived terms
* bit-depth * bitwise * hidden bit * high-order bit * least significant bit * most significant bit * * * * *See also
* ban, nat, qubitStatistics
*less
English
Adverb
(-)Katrina G. Claw
Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm, volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.}}
citation
Antonyms
* moreAdjective
- Those Rattels are somewhat like the chape of a Rapier, but lesse [...].
William E. Conner
An Acoustic Arms Race, volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}
- This is not a happy situation as far as the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes is concerned because it means less jobs for the union's members here at home.
- No less than four standard-bearers went before them, carrying huge crimson banners emblazoned with the golden lion.
- Although my hosts, G S Aviation, can teach you to fly in Wiltshire, an intensive week at their French airfield means less problems with the weather, cheap but good living, and complete removal from any distractions.
Usage notes
Antonyms
* moreSee also
* fewerPreposition
(English prepositions)- It should then tax all of that as personal income, less the proportion of the car's annual mileage demonstrably clocked up on company business.
Antonyms
* plusVerb
- (Gower)