bitts

English

Mooring bitts on board SS Shieldhall, a preserved steamship.

Etymology

Middle English, probably of Low German or North Germanic origin, and the English form a corruption or contraction, from Old Norse biti, probably ultimately from a variant of Proto-Germanic *bitiz. Compare Swedish beting and Danish beding.

Noun

bitts pl (plural only)

(nautical, plural only) A frame composed of two strong oak timbers (bitt-heads) fixed vertically in the fore part of a ship, bolted to the deck beams to which are secured the cables when the ship rides to anchor

Derived terms

bitter
bitter end
bitt-heads
bitt-pins
bitt-stopper
bitt the cable
carrick-bitts
fore-brace bitts
gallows-bitts
jear-bitts
paul-bitts, pawl-bitts
riding-bitts
topsail-sheet bitts
winch-bitts
windlass-bitts

References

An etymological dictionary of the English language, p. 65
Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Luxembourgish

Verb

bitts

second-person singular present indicative of bidden

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