*bit*

n. Absorption. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. acerbitudo, fr. acerbus. ] Sourness and harshness. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. acerbité, L. acerbitas, fr. acerbus. See Acerb. ] 1. Sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Harshness, bitterness, or severity; as, acerbity of temper, of language, of pain. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. adhibitus, p. p. of adhibere to hold to; ad + habere to have. ] 1. To admit, as a person or thing; to take in. Muirhead. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To use or apply; to administer. Camden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To attach; to affix. Alison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. adhibitio. ] The act of adhibiting; application; use. Whitaker. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ At one's pleasure; as one wishes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. albus white. ] (Min.) A mineral of the feldspar family, triclinic in crystallization, and in composition a silicate of alumina and soda. It is a common constituent of granite and of various igneous rocks. See Feldspar. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ambitus circuit, fr. ambire to go around. See Ambient. ] Circuit or compass. [ 1913 Webster ]

His great parts did not live within a small ambit. Milward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ambition, L. ambitio a going around, especially of candidates for office is Rome, to solicit votes (hence, desire for office or honor), fr. ambire to go around. See Ambient, Issue. ] 1. The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ I ] used no ambition to commend my deeds. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An eager, and sometimes an inordinate, desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, or the attainment of something. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cromwell, I charge thee, fling a way ambition:
By that sin fell the angels. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The pitiful ambition of possessing five or six thousand more acres. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. F. ambitionner. ] To seek after ambitiously or eagerly; to covet. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage. Trumbull. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One excessively ambitious. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Devoid of ambition. Pollok. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ambitiosus: cf. F. ambitieux. See Ambition. ] 1. Possessing, or controlled by, ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honorable man. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Strongly desirous; -- followed by of or the infinitive; as, ambitious to be or to do something. [ 1913 Webster ]

I was not ambitious of seeing this ceremony. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

Studious of song, and yet ambitious not to sing in vain. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring; as, an ambitious style. [ 1913 Webster ]

A giant statue . . .
Pushed by a wild and artless race,
From off wide, ambitious base. Collins. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an ambitious manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being ambitious; ambition; pretentiousness. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L. See Ambit, Ambition. ] 1. The exterior edge or border of a thing, as the border of a leaf, or the outline of a bivalve shell. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Rom. Antiq.) A canvassing for votes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & n. (Anat.) Same as Antorbital. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. anti- + orbital. ] (Anat.) Pertaining to, or situated in, the region of the front of the orbit. -- n. The antorbital bone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. arbiter; ar- (for ad) + the root of betere to go; hence properly, one who comes up to look on. ] 1. A person appointed, or chosen, by parties to determine a controversy between them. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In modern usage, arbitrator is the technical word. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any person who has the power of judging and determining, or ordaining, without control; one whose power of deciding and governing is not limited. [ 1913 Webster ]

For Jove is arbiter of both to man. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Arbitrator; umpire; director; referee; controller; ruler; governor. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To act as arbiter between. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. arbitrable, fr. L. arbitrari. See Arbitrate, v. t. ] Capable of being decided by arbitration; determinable. [ Archaic ] Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. arbiter to give judgment, L. arbitrari. ] 1. Judgment by an arbiter; authoritative determination. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Com.) A traffic in bills of exchange (see Arbitration of Exchange). [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Finance) the simultaneous or near simultaneous purchase and sale of the same or closely linked securities or commodities in different markets to make a profit on the (often small) differences in price. [ PJC ]

n. same as arbitrageur.
Syn. -- arb, arbitrageur [ PJC ]

n. someone who engages in arbitrage; i. e. one who purchases securities in one market for immediate resale in another in the hope of profiting from the price differential.
Syn. -- arb, arbitrager. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. arbitralis. ] Of or relating to an arbiter or an arbitration. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. arbitramentum. ] 1. Determination; decision; arbitration. [ 1913 Webster ]

The arbitrament of time. Everett. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gladly at this moment would MacIvor have put their quarrel to personal arbitrament. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The award of arbitrators. Cowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an arbitrary manner; by will only; despotically; absolutely. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being arbitrary; despoticalness; tyranny. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. arbitrarius. See Arbitrary. ] Arbitrary; despotic. [ Obs. ] -- Ar`bi*tra"ri*ous*ly, adv. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

a. [ L. arbitrarius, fr. arbiter: cf. F. arbitraire. See Arbiter. ] 1. Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules; as, an arbitrary decision; an arbitrary punishment. [ 1913 Webster ]

It was wholly arbitrary in them to do so. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rank pretends to fix the value of every one, and is the most arbitrary of all things. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Exercised according to one's own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power. [ 1913 Webster ]

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused licentiousness. Washington. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Despotic; absolute in power; bound by no law; harsh and unforbearing; tyrannical; as, an arbitrary prince or government. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Arbitrary constant,
Arbitrary function (Math.), a quantity of function that is introduced into the solution of a problem, and to which any value or form may at will be given, so that the solution may be made to meet special requirements. --
Arbitrary quantity (Math.), one to which any value can be assigned at pleasure. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Arbitrated p. pr. & vb. n. Arbitrating ] [ L. arbitratus, p. p. of arbitrari to be a hearer or beholder of something, to make a decision, to give judgment, fr. arbiter. See Arbiter. ] 1. To hear and decide, as arbitrators; as, to choose to arbitrate a disputed case. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To decide, or determine generally. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

There shall your swords and lances arbitrate
The swelling difference of your settled hate. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To decide; to determine. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To act as arbitrator or judge; as, to arbitrate upon several reports; to arbitrate in disputes among neighbors; to arbitrate between parties to a suit. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. arbitration, L. arbitratio, fr. arbitrari. ] The hearing and determination of a cause between parties in controversy, by a person or persons chosen by the parties. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This may be done by one person; but it is usual to choose two or three called arbitrators; or for each party to choose one, and these to name a third, who is called the umpire. Their determination is called the award. Bouvier [ 1913 Webster ]

Arbitration bond, a bond which obliges one to abide by the award of an arbitration. --
Arbitration of Exchange, the operation of converting the currency of one country into that of another, or determining the rate of exchange between such countries or currencies. An arbitrated rate is one determined by such arbitration through the medium of one or more intervening currencies. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. relating to or resulting from arbitration. an arbitrational settlement
Syn. -- arbitral [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. of or pertaining to arbitration; relating to or having the authority to arbitrate. an arbitrative board [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L., fr. arbitrari: cf. F. arbitrateur. ] 1. A person, or one of two or more persons, chosen by parties who have a controversy, to determine their differences. See Arbitration. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who has the power of deciding or prescribing without control; a ruler; a governor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Though Heaven be shut,
And Heaven's high Arbitrators sit secure. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Masters of their own terms and arbitrators of a peace. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Judge; umpire; referee; arbiter. See Judge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., fem. of arbitrator. ] A female who arbitrates or judges. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Arbiter. ] A female arbiter; an arbitratrix. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To line with Babbitt metal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. lining a surface or bearing with babbitt metal.
Syn. -- babbitting [ WordNet 1.5 ]

[ From the inventor, Isaac Babbitt of Massachusetts. ] A soft white alloy of variable composition (as a nine parts of tin to one of copper, or of fifty parts of tin to five of antimony and one of copper) used in bearings to diminish friction. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 2d back, n. + bite. ] To wound by clandestine detraction; to censure meanly or spitefully (an absent person); to slander or speak evil of (one absent). Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To censure or revile the absent. [ 1913 Webster ]

They are arrant knaves, and will backbite. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who backbites; a secret calumniator or detractor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Secret slander; detraction. [ 1913 Webster ]

Backbiting, and bearing of false witness. Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L., fr. Gr. ba`rbiton. ] (Mus.) An ancient Greek instrument resembling a lyre. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Chem.) A white, crystalline substance, CH2(CO.NH)2.CO, derived from alloxantin, also from malonic acid and urea, and regarded as a substituted urea. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl. Hist.) A member of a religious order, named from St. Barnabas. [ 1913 Webster ]