72 BIT 
the oak for every bit they put in their bellies. VEJlrange-—- 
A fmall piece of any thing : 
He bought at thoufands what with better wit 
You purchafe as you want, and bit by bit. Pope. 
A Spanifh Well Indian filver coin, valued at feven-pence 
half-penny. A bit the better or worse. In the 
fmalleft degree.—There are few that know all the tricks 
of thefe lawyers ; for aught I can fee, your cafe is not a 
bit clearer than it was feven years ago. Arbulhnot. 
To BIT, v. a. To put .the bridle upon a horle. 
BITCH, f. [L'?ze,Sax.] The female of the canine kind; 
as the wolf, the dog, the fox, the otter.—I have been 
credibly informed, that a bitch will nurfe, play with, and 
be fond of, young foxes, as much as, and in place of, her 
puppies. Locke. —A name of reproach for a woman.—Him 
you'll call a dog, and her a bitch. Pope. 
BITCHE, a town of France, and principal place of a 
diftrifl, in the department of the Mofelle, fpuated on a 
river at the foot of the Vofges mountains, on the frontiers 
of Deux Fonts. It was taken by Louis XIV. and fortified 
by Vauban ; afterwards it was difmantled, and refiorecl to 
the duchy of Loraine. It was fortified again, in the year 
1740, after the bell manner. On the 20th of September 
1793, the French revolutionary army was defeated near 
this town, by the duke oD*L 5 runfwick. It is three pods 
fouth of Deux Fonts, and fifty-one and a half eaft of Faris. 
Lat. 47. 3. N. Ion. 25. 6. PL Ferro. 
BIT'CHU, or Bitcou, a province of Japan. 
To BITE, v. a. pret. I bit-, part, path 1 have bit or 
bitten.-, \_bitan, Sax.] Tocrufh, or pierce with the teeth.— 
Their foul mouths have not opened their lips without a 
falfity ; though they have fhowed their teeth as if they 
would bite off my nofe. Arbulhnot. —To give pain by cold : 
Full fifty years, harnefs’d ia rugged ffecl, 
I have endur’d the biting winter’s blaft. Rowe . 
To hurt or pain w ith reproach : 
Each poet with a different talent writes ; 
One praifes, one inftructs, another bites. Rofcommon. 
To Cut, to wound. To make the mouth fmart with an 
acrid taffe.—It may be the fird water will have more of 
the fcent, as more fragrant; and the fecond more of the 
tade, as more bitter, or biting. Bacon. —To cheat; to trick; 
to defraud : a low phrafe : 
Afleep and naked as an Indian lay, 
An honed faftor ftole a gem away : 
He pledg’d it to the knight; the knight had wit, 
So kept the diamond, and the.rogue was bit. Pope. 
BITE, J. The feizttre of any thing by the teeth.—Does 
he think he can endure the everlading burnings, or arm 
himfelf againd the bites of the never-dying worm ? South. — 
The aft of a fifh that takes the bait.—I have known a very 
good filher angle diligently four or fix hours for a river 
carp, and not have a bite. Walton. — A cheat; a trick; a 
fraud : in low and vulgar language. A fharper ; one Who 
commits frauds. 
“ If you cannot bite, never fhew your teeth.” Fr. A 
quoi bon montrer Its dents, quand on ne pent pas mordre. The 
meaning is, that it is a folly to threaten, when we want 
power to execute our threats. 
BITE, or Bites, f. in fhip-building, the name of two 
great timbers, ufually placed abaft the manger, in the 
(hip’s loof, through which the crofs-piece goes : the ufe 
of it is to hold or belay the cable while the diip is at anchor. 
BITER,/. He that bites. A fifii apt to take the bait. A 
iricker ; a deceiver.— A-biter is one who tells you a thing 
you have no reafon to difbelieve in itfelf, and perhaps has 
given you, before he bit you, no reafon to difbelieve it 
for his faying it; and, if you give him credit, laughs in 
your face, and triumphs that he has deceived you. He is 
one who thinks you a fool, becaufe you do not think him 
a knave. Spectator. 
B I T 
BI'TER, f. A fea-term, dignifying any turn of the 
cable about the bits, fo as that the cable may be let out 
by little and little. And when a (hip is hopped by a cable,- 
fhe is (aid to be brought up by a biter. 
BITTORD, a fmall town in W,arwickftiire, incorpo¬ 
rated by queen Elizabeth, with two fairs, one on the 6th 
of May for cattle, See. the other for cattle, hiring fer- 
vants, &c. and a market on Friday. It is fituated on 
bank of the Avon, feven miles from Evediam, fifteen 
from Warwick, eighteen from Worceder, and 100 from 
London. This place was formerly confiderable, but it is 
now much reduced. 
BITHNIMAL'CA, f. A word coined by Dolams, to 
dgnify a peculiar acting principle redding in the domach, 
a rtdpre tiding over the functions of chylification, See. called 
alfo gajleranax. 
BITHY'NIA, an ancient kingdom of Ada, formerly 
known by the names of Myjia , Mygdcnia, Babrycia, Ma - 
riandynia, and Bithynia. It was bounded on the wed by 
the Bofphorus Thracius and part of the Propontis, on the 
fouth by the river Rhyndacus and mount Olympus, on the 
north by the Euxine fea, and on the eatt by the river Par- 
thenius. The chief cities were Myrlea, Nicomedia, Chal- 
cedon, Heraclea, and Frufa. As to its hidory, we find 
nothing of moment recorded ; except the famous conduit 
of Prufias, one of its kings, in delivering up to the Ro¬ 
mans Hannibal, the illudrious Carthaginian general, who 
fled to him for protection. His great grandfon Nicomedes 
IV. bequeathed the kingdom to the Romans. From them 
it was taken by the Turks, to whom it remains fubjeit, 
but has no modern name. 
BI'TIAS, a Trojan, fon of Alcanor and Hiera, brought 
up in wood facred to Jupiter. He followed the fortune of 
jSineas, and, with his brother, was killed by the Rutuli in 
Italy. 
BI'TO, a kingdom of Africa, in Negroland. 
BI'TO, a mathematician who lived about the year 335 
before the common epoch, compofed a treatife on the ma¬ 
chines made ufe of in war, to be found in the Mathematici 
Veteres, Paris, 1593, folio. 
BITON'TO, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, 
and country of Bari, about eight miles from the Adriatic. 
It is the fee of a bifhop, fuffragan of Bari. Near this 
town the Spaniards, under the command of the duke of 
Mortemar, obtained a decifive vidfory over the Andrians, 
in 1734, by which the whole country of Naples fubmitted 
to the crown of Spain : feven miles fouth of Bari. 
BIT'TACLE,/ A frame of timber in the fteerageof a 
(hip, where the compafs is placed; ufually called Binacle. 
BIT'TEN, particip. paj'. [from To bite; which fee.] 
BIT'TENDORF, a town of Silefia, in the principality 
of Neyfze : two miles north of Otmuchau. 
BITTER, adj. [biten, Sax.] Having a hot, acrid, biting, 
tafte, like wormwood.— Bitter things are apt rather to kill 
than engender putrefadtion. Bacon. —Sharp ; cruel ; fe- 
vere.—The word of God, inftead of a bitter, teaches us a 
charitable zeal. Sprat. —Calamitous; miferable : 
Then fhun the bitter confequence : for know, 
The day thou eat’ft thereof, my foie command 
Tranfgreft, inevitably thou (halt die. Milton. 
Painful; inclement : 
The fowl the borders fly, 
And fhun the bitter blaft, and wheelabout the (ky. Dryden . 
Sharp; reproachful; fatirical ; mournful; afftidled.—■ 
Wherefore is light given unto him that is in mifery, and 
life unto the bitter in foul ? Job. — In any manner unpleafing 
or hurtful.— Bitter is an equivocal word; there is bitter 
wormwood, there are bitter words, there are bitter enemies, 
and a bitter cold morning. Watts, 
BIT'TERFELD, a town of Germany, in the circle-of 
Upper Saxony; and eledlorate of Saxony, fituated on the 
Moldau : fixteen miles fouth of Deffau, and eighteen 
fouth-fouth-weft of Wittenberg. 
BIT'- 
