bitt

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a strong post or pair of posts on a ship, quay, or wharf around which a mooring line is secured

   The deckhand looped the heavy rope around the bitt.

2. 2
   verb

   to secure a cable or rope around a bitt

   The crew bitted the towline before the current caught the barge.

From Middle English bitte, probably related to Old Norse biti, 'crossbeam,' or a cognate Germanic nautical term. The paired posts called bitts hold a rope firmly under tension; the verb developed directly from the noun.

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