Bit vs. Beat — What's the Difference?

The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a contraction of binary digit.

To strike repeatedly.

A small piece, part, or quantity of something

To subject to repeated beatings or physical abuse; batter.

A set of actions or ideas associated with a specific group or activity

To punish by hitting or whipping; flog.

A girl or young woman

To strike against repeatedly and with force; pound

A person's genitals

To flap (wings, for example).

A unit of 12 1/2 cents (used only in even multiples).

To strike so as to produce music or a signal

A mouthpiece, typically made of metal, which is attached to a bridle and used to control a horse.

(Music) To mark or count (time or rhythm), especially with the hands or with a baton.

A tool or piece for boring or drilling

To shape or break by repeated blows; forge

A unit of information expressed as either a 0 or 1 in binary notation.

To make by pounding or trampling

Put a bit into the mouth of (a horse).

To mix rapidly with a utensil

A small portion, degree, or amount

To defeat or subdue, as in a contest.

A brief amount of time; a moment

To force to withdraw or retreat

A short scene or episode in a theatrical performance.

To dislodge from a position

A bit part.

(Informal) To be superior to or better than

An entertainment routine given regularly by a performer; an act.

(Slang) To perplex or baffle

A particular kind of action, situation, or behavior

To avoid or counter the effects of, often by thinking ahead; circumvent

A matter being considered

To arrive or finish before (another)

(Informal) An amount equal to one eighth of a dollar

To deprive, as by craft or ability

Chiefly British A small coin

(Physics) To cause a reference wave to combine with (a second wave) so that the frequency of the second wave can be studied through time variations in the amplitude of the combination.

The sharp part of a tool, such as the cutting edge of a knife or axe.

To inflict repeated blows.

A pointed and threaded tool for drilling and boring that is secured in a brace, bitstock, or drill press.

To pulsate; throb.

The part of a key that enters the lock and engages the bolt and tumblers.

To emit sound when struck

The tip of the mouthpiece on a pipe or a cigarette or cigar holder.

To strike a drum.

The metal mouthpiece of a bridle, serving to control, curb, and direct an animal.

To flap repeatedly.

Something that controls, guides, or curbs.

To shine or glare intensely

A binary digit, having either the value 0 or 1, used to store or represent data.

To fall in torrents

To place a bit in the mouth of (a horse, for example).

To hunt through woods or underbrush in search of game.

To check or control with or as if with a bit.

(Nautical) To sail upwind by tacking repeatedly.

To make or grind a bit on (a key).

A stroke or blow, especially one that produces a sound or serves as a signal.

Past tense and a past participle of bite.

A pulsation or throb.

A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to the reins to direct the animal.

(Physics) A variation in the amplitude of a wave, especially that which results from the superpositioning of two or more waves of different frequencies. When sound waves are combined, the beat is heard as a pulsation in the sound.

A rotary cutting tool fitted to a drill, used to bore holes.

A steady succession of units of rhythm.

A coin of a specified value.

A gesture used by a conductor to indicate such a unit.

A ten-cent piece, dime.

A pattern of stress that produces the rhythm of verse.

A unit of currency or coin in the Americas worth a fraction of a Spanish dollar; now specifically, an eighth of a US dollar.

A variable unit of time measuring a pause taken by an actor, as for dramatic effect.

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.

The area regularly covered by a reporter, a police officer, or a sentry

A small amount of something.

The reporting of a news item obtained ahead of one's competitors.

(informal) Specifically, a small amount of time.

Often Beat A member of the Beat Generation.

Fractions of a second.

(Informal) Worn-out; fatigued.

A portion of something.

Often Beat Of or relating to the Beat Generation.

Somewhat; something, but not very great; also used like jot and whit to express the smallest degree. See also a bit.

A stroke; a blow.

(slang) A prison sentence, especially a short one.

A pulsation or throb.

An excerpt of material making up part of a show, comedy routine, etc.

(music) A pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Thus a beat is the basic time unit of a piece.

The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers.

A rhythm.

The cutting iron of a plane.

(music) The rhythm signalled by a conductor or other musician to the members of a group of musicians.

The bevelled front edge of an axehead along which the cutting edge runs.

The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.

(BDSM) A gag of a style similar to a bridle.

The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency

(MLE) A gun.

(authorship) A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect.

A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.

(by extension) An area of a person's responsibility, especially

(computing) The smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, consisting of a binary digit.

The route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.

Any datum that may take on one of exactly two values.

(journalism) The primary focus of a reporter's stories (such as police/courts, education, city government, business etc.).

(information theory) A unit of measure for information entropy.

(dated) An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.

A microbitcoin, or a millionth of a bitcoin (0.000001 BTC).

That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.

(transitive) To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of (a horse).

A precinct.

Inflection of bite, bitten

(dated) A place of habitual or frequent resort.

Having been bitten.

(AU) An area frequented by gay men in search of sexual activity. See gay beat.

The part of a bridle, usually of iron, which is inserted in the mouth of a horse, and having appendages to which the reins are fastened.

(archaic) A low cheat or swindler.

Fig.: Anything which curbs or restrains.

(hunting) The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.

In the British West Indies, a fourpenny piece, or groat.

(fencing) A smart tap on the adversary's blade.

A part of anything, such as may be bitten off or taken into the mouth; a morsel; a bite. Hence: A small piece of anything; a little; a mite.

(slang) A makeup look; compare beat one's face.

Somewhat; something, but not very great.

A beatnik.

A tool for boring, of various forms and sizes, usually turned by means of a brace or bitstock. See Bitstock.

(transitive) To hit; to strike.

The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers.

(transitive) To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.

The cutting iron of a plane.

(intransitive) To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.

In the Southern and Southwestern States, a small silver coin (as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12 1/2 cents; also, the sum of 12 1/2 cents.

(intransitive) To move with pulsation or throbbing.

To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of.

(transitive) To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do or be better than (someone); to excel in a particular, competitive event.

The smallest unit of information, equivalent to a choice between two alternatives, as yes or no; on or off.

To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.

The physical representation of a bit of information in a computer memory or a data storage medium. Within a computer circuit a bit may be represented by the state of a current or an electrical charge; in a magnetic storage medium it may be represented by the direction of magnetization; on a punched card or on paper tape it may be represented by the presence or absence of a hole at a particular point on the card or tape.

(transitive) To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.

A small quantity;

To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.

A small fragment of something broken off from the whole;

To persuade the seller to reduce a price.

An indefinitely short time;

(transitive) To indicate by beating or drumming.

An instance of some kind;

To tread, as a path.

Piece of metal held in horse's mouth by reins and used to control the horse while riding;

To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.

A unit of measurement of information (from Binary + digIT); the amount of information in a system having two equiprobable states;

To be in agitation or doubt.

A small amount of solid food; a mouthful;

To make a sound when struck.

A small fragment;

To make a succession of strokes on a drum.

A short theatrical performance that is part of a longer program;

To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and lesser intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; said of instruments, tones, or vibrations not perfectly in unison.

The cutting part of a drill; usually pointed and threaded and is replaceable in a brace or bitstock or drill press;

(transitive) To arrive at a place before someone.

To have sexual intercourse.

To rob.

Inflection of [[:en:#Etymology_1

Inflection of [[:en:#Etymology_1

Exhausted.

Dilapidated, beat up.

Having impressively attractive makeup.

(slang) Boring.

Ugly.

Relating to the Beat Generation.

To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat one's breast; to beat iron so as to shape it; to beat grain, in order to force out the seeds; to beat eggs and sugar; to beat a drum.

To punish by blows; to thrash.

To scour or range over in hunting, accompanied with the noise made by striking bushes, etc., for the purpose of rousing game.

To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind.

To tread, as a path.

To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish, defeat, or conquer; to surpass or be superior to.

To cheat; to chouse; to swindle; to defraud; - often with out.

To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.

To give the signal for, by beat of drum; to sound by beat of drum; as, to beat an alarm, a charge, a parley, a retreat; to beat the general, the reveille, the tattoo. See Alarm, Charge, Parley, etc.

To baffle or stump; to defy the comprehension of (a person); as, it beats me why he would do that.

To evade, avoid, or escape (blame, taxes, punishment); as, to beat the rap (be acquitted); to beat the sales tax by buying out of state.

To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.

To move with pulsation or throbbing.

To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do.

To be in agitation or doubt.

To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse.

To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat.

To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.

To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; - said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison.

A stroke; a blow.

A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse.

The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit.

A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat; analogously, for newspaper reporters, the subject or territory that they are assigned to cover; as, the Washington beat.

A place of habitual or frequent resort.

A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; - often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat; also, deadbeat.

One that beats, or surpasses, another or others; as, the beat of him.

The act of one that beats a person or thing

The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.

A smart tap on the adversary's blade.

Weary; tired; fatigued; exhausted.

A regular route for a sentry or policeman;

The rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart;

The basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music;

A single pulsation of an oscillation produced by adding two waves of different frequencies; has a frequency equal to the difference between the two oscillations

A member of the beat generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior

The sound of stroke or blow;

(prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse

A regular rate of repetition;

A stroke or blow;

The act of beating to windward; sailing as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing

Come out better in a competition, race, or conflict;

Give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression;

Hit repeatedly;

Move rhythmically;

Shape by beating;

Make a rhythmic sound;

Glare or strike with great intensity;

Move with a thrashing motion;

Sail with much tacking or with difficulty;

Stir vigorously;

Strike (a part of one's own body) repeatedly, as in great emotion or in accompaniment to music;

Be superior;

Avoid paying;

Make a sound like a clock or a timer;

Move with a flapping motion;

Indicate by beating, as with the fingers or drumsticks;

Move with or as if with a regular alternating motion;

Make by pounding or trampling;

Produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly;

Strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting

Beat through cleverness and wit;

Be a mystery or bewildering to;

Wear out completely;

Very tired;