noun
Meaning 1
A corner, bend, or angle; a hollow
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- the bight of a horse's knee
- the bight of an elbow
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
bight
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/baɪt/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -aɪt
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homophone: bite
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homophone: by't
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homophone: byte
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CMU ARPABET: B AY1 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
An area of sea lying between two promontories, larger than a bay, wider than a gulf.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: geography, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A bend or curve in a coastline, river, or other geographical feature.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: geography, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A curve in a rope.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To arrange or fasten (a rope) in bights.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
the middle part of a slack rope (as distinguished from its ends)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: center, centre, midpoint
noun
Meaning 7
a broad bay formed by an indentation in the shoreline
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the Bight of Benin
- the Great Australian Bight
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: bay, embayment
Narrower terms: Bight of Benin, Great Australian Bight
noun
Meaning 8
a bend or curve (especially in a coastline)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: bend, crook, twist, turn
noun
Meaning 9
a loop in a rope
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: loop
verb
Meaning 10
fasten with a bight
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fasten, fix, secure
History
Etymology
From Middle English bight, biȝt, byȝt (also bought, bowght, bouȝt; see bought), from Old English byht (“bend, angle, corner; bay, bight”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (“bend, curve”), from Proto-Germanic *beuganą (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhewgh- (“to bend”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian boch, bocht, bucht (“bay, bight, gulf”), Saterland Frisian Bucht (“bay, bight, gulf”), West Frisian bocht (“bay, bight, gulf”), Dutch bocht (“bay, bight”), German Bucht (“bay, bight, gulf”), Icelandic bót (“bight, cove, small bay”); also Albanian butë (“soft, flabby”), Ukrainian бга́ти (bháty, “to crumple, twist”), Sanskrit भुज् (bhuj, “to bend, curve; to sweep”).
Across languages
Translations
48 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: чупка (čupka) — bend
- Dutch: bocht — bend
- Finnish: mutka — bend
- Finnish: kuoppa — bend
- Hungarian: hajlás — bend
- Hungarian: hajlat — bend
- Hungarian: öblösödés — bend
- Hungarian: bemélyedés — bend
- Hungarian: szöglet — bend
- Hungarian: kanyar — bend
- Hungarian: kanyarulat — bend
- Ido: sesgo — bend
- Polish: zagięcie — bend
- Russian: изги́б (izgíb) — bend
- Spanish: curva — bend
- Spanish: corva — bend
- Spanish: sangradura — bend
- Bulgarian: бухта (buhta) — large bay
- Catalan: badia oberta — large bay
- Danish: bugt — large bay
- Dutch: bocht — large bay
- Finnish: lahti — large bay
- French: baie — large bay
- Georgian: უბე (ube) — large bay
- German: Bucht — large bay
- Hungarian: öböl — large bay
- Hungarian: tengeröböl — large bay
- Italian: ansa — large bay
- Italian: baia — large bay
- Māori: kokoru — large bay
- Māori: kokorutanga — large bay
- Māori: kowhanenga — large bay
- Norwegian Bokmål: bukt — large bay
- Polish: zatoka — large bay
- Portuguese: enseada — large bay
- Russian: бу́хта (búxta) — large bay
- Spanish: ensenada — large bay
- Bulgarian: бухта (buhta) — curve
- Bulgarian: навито въже (navito vǎže) — curve
- Dutch: lus — curve
- Finnish: mutka — curve
- Finnish: puhti — curve
- Hungarian: hurok — curve
- Polish: pętla — curve
- Polish: skręt — curve
- Russian: пе́тля — curve
- Russian: петля́ (pétlja, petljá) — curve
- Spanish: lazo — curve
Real reading context