▪ I. dit, n.1 arch.
Also 6 ditt.
[app. taken by Spenser from ME. dit = dite n.1, and erroneously pronounced with short vowel, perh. by association with ditty. Thence in later verse.]
A poetical composition; a ditty: see dite n.1
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 13 No song but did containe a lovely ditt. [cf. a 1592 T. Watson Tears Fancie li. Poems (Arb.) 204 No song but did containe a louelie dit.] 1861 Mrs. Browning Paraphr. Monnus Last Poems 125 A Hamadryad sang a nuptial dit Right shrilly. |
▪ II. dit, n.2 Chiefly U.S.
(dit)
Also di (dɪ).
[Imitative.]
In Morse telegraphy, etc.: = dot n.1 5 e. Cf. dah n.2
When a message is being described, di is used for a dot appearing at the beginning or in the middle of a character string, and dit for one at the end, as di-di-dah-dah-di-dit ‘question mark’.
| 1942, 1957 [see dah n.2]. 1968 Radio Communication Handbk. (ed. 4) xx. 2/1 The space between parts of the same letter should be equal to one di (dit). 1977 Sci. Amer. Dec. 42/3 The tapes offer a meticulous set of graded dit-dah practice sessions, half an hour each at 5, 7.5, 10 and 13 words per minute. |
▪ III. dit, v. Now only Sc. and dial.
(dɪt)
Forms: 1 dyttan, 3–4 dutte(n(ü), 3–6 ditt(e, 4–6 dytt, 4– dit. pa. tense and pple. ditted, Sc. dittit; also pa. tense 3 dutte; pple. 4–9 dit, 5 dytt.
[OE. dyttan to close, shut:—OTeut. type *duttjan, prob. f. *dutto{supm}, OE. dott, a small lump, a clot, a plug: see dot, dottle. Cf. fordit.]
1. trans. To stop up, close up, shut (an opening); to fill up (a hole or gap). lit. and fig.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xi. 53 Ongunnun ða farisei..his muð dyttan. c 1000 Ags. Ps. lvii. 4 Anlic nædran..seo..dytteð hyre earan. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 199 We..swo ditteð þe eare and noht ne hercnið. c 1200 Ormin 18633 Onnȝæn þatt laþe læredd folc Forr þeȝȝre muþ to dittenn. a 1225 Ancr. R. 82 Me schulde dutten [v.r. ditten] his muð..mid herde fustes. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1233 Þe dor drawen & dit with a derf haspe. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 168 The vpcom wes then Dittit with slayn hors and men. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 194 Ayther has thou no wytt Or els ar thyne eres dytt. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxiii. Lament. of Lady Scotl. 196 Dit the mouths of thame that sa dois speik. 1647 H. More Cupid's Conflict lv. Philos. Poems 173 Foul sluggish fat ditts up your dullèd eye. a 1758 Ramsay Scots Prov. (1776) 77 When a's in and the slap dit, Rise herd and let the dog sit. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb (1873) 140 Ye wud 'a keepit by the aul' proerb that says, ‘Dit your mou’ wi your meat’. |
2. To stop or obstruct the course or way of.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11942 (Cott.) Wit nith and enst and iuel witt þe water wissing can he ditt. Ibid. 24003 (Cott.) Mi teres all mi sight þai ditte. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 178 An Hep of Hermytes henten heom spades And doluen drit and donge to dutte honger oute. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 14 Almost had myne breth beyn dit. 1513 Douglas æneis v. xiii. 96 The riueris dittit with deid corsis wox reid. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxx, It..sweeps away a' my gude thoughts, and dits up my gude words. |
▪ IV. dit
early form of dite n.1 Obs. composition.