bight

[ bahyt ]
See synonyms for bight on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the middle part of a rope, as distinguished from the ends.

  2. the loop or bent part of a rope, as distinguished from the ends.

  1. a bend or curve in the shore of a sea or river.

  2. a body of water bounded by such a bend.

  3. a bay or gulf.

verb (used with object)
  1. to fasten with a bight of rope.

Origin of bight

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English byght, Old English byht “bend, bay”; cognate with Dutch bocht, German Bucht; akin to bow1

Words that may be confused with bight

Words Nearby bight

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bight in a sentence

  • I was deep in the bottle-neck bight of the sands, jammed on a lee shore, and a strong flood tide sweeping me on.

    The Riddle of the Sands | Erskine Childers
  • Reaching the rope over his head, he went up, hand over hand, till he had slack enough to make a bight for one of his feet.

    Down the Rhine | Oliver Optic

British Dictionary definitions for bight (1 of 2)

bight

/ (baɪt) /


noun
  1. a wide indentation of a shoreline, or the body of water bounded by such a curve

  2. the slack middle part of an extended rope

  1. a curve or loop in a rope

verb
  1. (tr) to fasten or bind with a bight

Origin of bight

1
Old English byht; see bow ²

British Dictionary definitions for Bight (2 of 2)

Bight

noun
  1. the Bight Australian informal the major indentation of the S coast of Australia, from Cape Pasley in W Australia to the Eyre Peninsula in S Australia: In full: the Great Australian Bight

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for bight

bight

[ bīt ]


  1. A long, gradual bend or curve in a shoreline. A bight can be larger than a bay, or it can be a segment of a bay.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.