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Bight

//baɪt// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A corner, bend, or angle; a hollow

    "the bight of a horse's knee"

  2. 2
    the middle part of a slack rope (as distinguished from its ends) wordnet
  3. 3
    An area of sea lying between two promontories, larger than a bay, wider than a gulf.
  4. 4
    a broad bay formed by an indentation in the shoreline wordnet
  5. 5
    A bend or curve in a coastline, river, or other geographical feature.
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    a bend or curve (especially in a coastline) wordnet
  2. 7
    A curve in a rope.

    "I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking."

  3. 8
    a loop in a rope wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To arrange or fasten (a rope) in bights. transitive
  2. 2
    fasten with a bight wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”).

Etymology 2

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”).

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