different between bitter vs beat

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b?t?/, [?b?t??], (colloquially also) [?b???]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?t??/, [?b???]
• Hyphenation: bit?ter
• Rhymes: -?t?(r)
• Homophone: bidder (in some dialects)

Etymology 1

From Middle English bitter, bittre, from Old English bitter, biter (“bitter”), from Proto-West Germanic *bit(t)r, from Proto-Germanic *bitraz (“bitter”), equivalent to bite +? -er (adjectival suffix). Compare Saterland Frisian bitter (“bitter”), West Frisian bitter (“bitter”), Dutch bitter (“bitter”), Low German bitter (“bitter”), German bitter (“bitter”), Swedish bitter (“bitter”), Icelandic bitur (“bitter”).

Adjective

bitter (comparative bitterer or more bitter, superlative bitterest or most bitter)

1. Having an acrid taste (usually from a basic substance).

   • Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth […].

   • 2018 May 16, Adam Rogers, Wired, "The Fundamental Nihilism of Yanny vs. Laurel":

     A few types of molecules get sensed by receptors on the tongue. Protons coming off of acids ping receptors for "sour." Sugars get received as "sweet." Bitter, salty, and the proteinaceous flavor umami all set off their own neural cascades.

2. Harsh, piercing or stinging.
   • 1999, Neil Gaiman, Stardust, p.31 (Perennial paperback edition)

     It was at the end of February, […] when the world was cold, and a bitter wind howled down the moors […].

3. Hateful or hostile.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

     He inveighed against the folly of making oneself liable for the debts of others; vented many bitter execrations against the brother; and concluded with wishing something could be done for the unfortunate family.
4. Cynical and resentful.

Usage notes

• The one-word comparative form bitterer and superlative form bitterest exist, but are less common than their two-word counterparts more bitter and most bitter.

Synonyms

• (cynical and resentful): jaded

Antonyms

• (cynical and resentful): optimistic

Derived terms

• bitter pill to swallow
• bittersome

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: bita

Translations

See also

• bitter end

Noun

bitter (countable and uncountable, plural bitters)

1. (usually in the plural bitters) A liquid or powder, made from bitter herbs, used in mixed drinks or as a tonic.
   • 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer

     Thus I begin: "All is not gold that glitters,

     "Pleasure seems sweet, but proves a glass of bitters.

2. A type of beer heavily flavored with hops.
3. (nautical) A turn of a cable about the bitts.

Synonyms

• (beer): English pale ale, EPA

Derived terms

• brought up to a bitter

Translations

Verb

bitter (third-person singular simple present bitters, present participle bittering, simple past and past participle bittered)

1. To make bitter.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wolcott to this entry?)

Etymology 2

bit +? -er

Noun

bitter (plural bitters)

1. (computing, informal, in combination) A hardware system whose architecture is based around units of the specified number of bits (binary digits).
   • 1983, Computerworld (volume 17, number 49, page 21)

     However, 16-bitters are far more expensive than the 8-bit variety. And, unfortunately, have only a handful of business applications software packages that really take advantage of them.

   • 1984, Electronic Business (volume 10, page 154)

     The company believes that the 32-bit market will almost equal that of 16-bitters by the end of the decade. Chip maker Zilog Inc., not a major player in the 16-bit arena, is even more bullish about 32-bitters as it readies its own version for market.

Danish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle Low German bitter.

Adjective

bitter

1. bitter (all meanings)

Inflection

Related terms

• bitterhed
• forbitret

Noun

bitter c (singular definite bitteren, plural indefinite bittere)

1. bitter (the liquid used in drinks)
2. A bitter form of an aquavit

Inflection

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English bitter.

Noun

bitter c

1. bitter (type of beer - only known generally in Denmark for a few years)

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch bitter, from Old Dutch bitter, from Proto-West Germanic *bit(t)r, from Proto-Germanic *bitraz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?t?r/
• Hyphenation: bit?ter
• Rhymes: -?t?r

Adjective

bitter (comparative bitterder, superlative bitterst)

1. bitter (having an acrid taste)
2. bitter, embittered

Inflection

Derived terms

• verbitteren

Related terms

• verbitterd

Descendants

• Afrikaans: bitter

See also

• (tastes) smaak; bitter, zoet, zout, zuur ^{(Category: nl:Taste)}

Noun

bitter m or n (plural bitters, diminutive bittertje n)

1. A type of strong spirits made by steeping (often bitter) herbs in brandy or jenever, traditionally considered a digestive drink.

Usage notes

When used in a countable sense (a serving of bitter), the diminutive is the usual form.

Derived terms

• bitterbal
• oranjebitter
• kruidenbitter

Synonyms

• kruidenbitter

Descendants

• Afrikaans: bitter
• ? Sranan Tongo: bita

Further reading

• The article Bitters on Wikipedia

Finnish

Noun

bitter

1. bitter (type of beer)

Declension

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi.te/

Verb

bitter

1. (transitive, slang) to understand, usually used in negative form and especially with rien.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• comprendre

German

Etymology

From Middle High German bitter, pitter, from Old High German bittar, from Proto-West Germanic *bit(t)r, from Proto-Germanic *bitraz. Compare Low German bitter, Dutch bitter, English bitter, Swedish bitter, Icelandic bitur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?.t?/

Adjective

bitter (comparative bitterer, superlative am bittersten)

1. bitter

(tastes) Geschmack; bitter, salzig, sauer, süß ^{(Category: de:Taste)}

Declension

Derived terms

• bitterkalt
• bittersüß
• Bitterkeit
• verbittern

Adverb

bitter

1. bitterly

Synonyms

• verbittert

Further reading

• “bitter” in Duden online
• “bitter” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “bitter” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

Italian

Etymology

From English bitters

Noun

bitter m (invariable)

1. bitters

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch bitter, from Proto-West Germanic *bit(t)r, from Proto-Germanic *bitraz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?t??r/

Adjective

bitter

1. bitter (taste)
2. sad, painful

Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: bitter
• Limburgish: bitter

Further reading

• “bitter”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “bitter”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Middle Low German bitter and Old Norse bitr

Adjective

bitter (neuter singular bittert, definite singular and plural bitre, comparative bitrere, indefinite superlative bitrest, definite superlative bitreste)

1. bitter

Derived terms

• bitterhet

References

• “bitter” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Middle Low German bitter and Old Norse bitr

Adjective

bitter (neuter singular bittert, definite singular and plural bitre, comparative bitrare, indefinite superlative bitrast, definite superlative bitraste)

1. bitter

References

• “bitter” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bit.ter/

Adjective

bitter

1. Alternative form of biter

Declension

Old High German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bit.ter/

Adjective

bitter

1. Alternative form of bittar

References

• Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse bitr (partly through the influence of Middle Low German bitter), from Proto-Germanic *bitraz.

Pronunciation

Adjective

bitter (comparative bittrare, superlative bittrast)

1. bitter; having an acrid taste
2. bitter; hateful
3. bitter; resentful

Declension

Anagrams

• bittre

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: b?t, IPA^(key): /bi?t/
• Homophone: beet
• Rhymes: -i?t

Etymology 1

From Middle English beten, from Old English b?atan (“to beat, pound, strike, lash, dash, thrust, hurt, injure”), from Proto-West Germanic *bautan, from Proto-Germanic *bautan? (“to push, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?ewd- (“to hit, strike”).

Compare Old Irish fo·botha (“he threatened”), Latin confut? (“I strike down”), f?stis (“stick, club”), Albanian bahe (“sling”), Lithuanian baudžiù, Old Armenian ???? (but?)).

Noun

beat (plural beats)

1. A stroke; a blow.

   • He, […] with a careless beat, / Struck out the mute creation at a heat.

2. A pulsation or throb.

3. (music) A pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Thus a beat is the basic time unit of a piece.
4. A rhythm.
   1. (music) The rhythm signalled by a conductor or other musician to the members of a group of musicians.
5. The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.
6. The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency
7. (authorship) A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect; a plot point or story development.
8. (by extension) An area of a person's responsibility, especially
   1. The route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.
   2. (journalism) The primary focus of a reporter's stories (such as police/courts, education, city government, business etc.).
      • 2020 April, Elizabeth Kolbert, Why we won't avoid a climate catastrophe[2], National Geographic

        As an adult, I became a journalist whose beat is the environment. In a way, I’ve turned my youthful preoccupations into a profession.

9. (dated) An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.
   • 1898, unknown author, Scribner's Magazine Volume 24

     It's a beat on the whole country.

10. (colloquial, dated) That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.

11. (dated or obsolete, Southern US) A precinct.
12. (dated) A place of habitual or frequent resort.
    1. (Australia) An area frequented by gay men in search of sexual activity. See gay beat.
13. (archaic) A low cheat or swindler.

14. (hunting) The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.
    • 1911, Hedley Peek and Frederick George Aflalo, Encyclopaedia of Sport

      Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them.

15. (fencing) A smart tap on the adversary's blade.
16. (slang) A makeup look; compare beat one's face.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Pennsylvania German: biede

Translations

See also

• (piece of hip-hop music): track

Verb

beat (third-person singular simple present beats, present participle beating, simple past beat, past participle beaten or beat)

1. (transitive) To hit; strike

   Synonyms: knock, pound, strike, hammer, whack; see also Thesaurus:attack, Thesaurus:hit
2. (transitive) To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.

3. (intransitive) To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
4. (intransitive) To move with pulsation or throbbing.
5. (transitive) To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do or be better than; to excel (someone) in a particular, competitive event.
6. (intransitive, nautical) To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
7. (transitive) To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.
8. To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.

9. (transitive, Britain, In haggling for a price) of a buyer, to persuade the seller to reduce a price

   Synonym: negotiate

10. (transitive) To indicate by beating or drumming.

11. To tread, as a path.
12. To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.
13. To be in agitation or doubt.
14. To make a sound when struck.

15. (military, intransitive) To make a succession of strokes on a drum.

16. To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison.
17. (transitive) To arrive at a place before someone.

18. (intransitive, Britain, slang, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse.

    Synonyms: do it, get it on, have sex, shag; see also Thesaurus:copulate

19. (transitive, slang) To rob.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

beat (comparative more beat, superlative most beat)

1. (US slang) exhausted

2. dilapidated, beat up

3. (African-American Vernacular and gay slang) Having impressively attractive makeup

4. (slang) boring
5. (slang, of a person) ugly

Synonyms

• (exhausted): See also Thesaurus:fatigued
• (dilapidated): See also Thesaurus:ramshackle
• (boring): See also Thesaurus:boring
• (ugly): See also Thesaurus:ugly

Translations

Etymology 2

From beatnik

Noun

beat (plural beats)

1. A beatnik.
   • 2008, David Wills, Beatdom, Issue Three, March 2008

     The beats were pioneers with no destination, changing the world one impulse at a time.

Derived terms

• beat generation

References

• DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ?ISBN.

Anagrams

• Bate, Beta, Teba, abet, bate, beta

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin be?tus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /be?at/
• Rhymes: -at

Adjective

beat (feminine beata, masculine plural beats, feminine plural beates)

1. saint, beatified

Derived terms

• beateria

Noun

beat m (plural beats)

1. monk

Related terms

• beatífic

Further reading

• “beat” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “beat” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “beat” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “beat” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English beat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bit/
• Hyphenation: beat
• Rhymes: -it
• Homophones: bied, biedt, biet

Noun

beat m (plural beats, diminutive beatje n)

1. A beat, a rhythmic pattern, notably in music
2. (music) beat an early rock genre.

Derived terms

• beatmis
• beatmuziek

Anagrams

• bate

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from English beat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bi?t/, [?bi?t?]

Noun

beat

1. (music) beat

Declension

Synonyms

• biitti

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English beat.

Adjective

beat (invariable)

1. beat (50s US literary and 70s UK music scenes)

Noun

beat m (invariable)

1. beat (rhythm accompanying music)

Anagrams

• beta

Latin

Verb

beat

1. third-person singular present active indicative of be?

Romanian

Etymology

From Late Latin bibitus (“drunk”), from Latin bib? (“drink”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [be?at]

Adjective

beat m or n (feminine singular beat?, masculine plural be?i, feminine and neuter plural bete)

1. drunk, drunken, intoxicated; tipsy

Declension

Synonyms

• îmb?tat
• b?ut

Antonyms

• treaz

Derived terms

• be?ie

Related terms

• bea
• be?iv
• îmb?ta

Volapük

Noun

beat (nominative plural beats)

1. happiness

Declension