bight

CEFRC2

/baɪt/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    a loop in a rope.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A bend or curve in a coastline, river, or other geographical feature.

Examples

  • Heligoland is located in the German Bight.

  • the bight of a horse's knee

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An area of sea lying between two promontories, larger than a bay, wider than a gulf.

  2. A corner, bend, or angle; a hollow

  3. A curve in a rope.

More examples

In context

  • the bight of an elbow

  • I spied a bight of meadow some way below the roadway in an angle of the river.

  • 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.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The sailors anchored the ship in the sheltered blank along the coast.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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, curv...