bitted

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of bit.

   The trainer bitted each horse carefully to avoid bruising its mouth.

   Once the stallion was bitted, he tossed his head in protest.

   Note

   The past form of the horseman's verb, built on the noun for the metal mouthpiece. Its doubled t does real work, because bit on its own is the past of bite, and in older English even its past participle. A horse that bit the groom and a horse that was bitted by him are doing very different things. In the stable sense, always write bitted.

2. 2
   adjective

   Equipped with a bit, in one of its various senses, such as a horse's mouthpiece or the shaped end of a key.

   A properly bitted colt answers the lightest touch on the reins.

   The locksmith studied the bitted blade to see which pins it would raise.

   Note

   The adjective is most at home inside compounds. A double-bitted axe has two blades on one head, and the word is hyphenated before the noun. On its own it usually describes a horse wearing its mouthpiece, the settled result of the bridling verb. It does not take degrees: a thing is bitted or it is not, so "more bitted" never sounds natural.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of bitt.

   The crew bitted the cable to take the strain off the windlass.

   After the anchor dropped, the chain was bitted and the vessel swung to rest.

   Note

   Sailors use this word for a cable or chain taken in turns around the bitts, the stout posts on deck, each one a kind of bollard. No extra letter is needed: bitt already ends in a double t, so adding -ed lands on exactly the same spelling as the bridling verb. Context tells them apart. Chains and cables are bitted aboard ship, and horses are bitted in the stable.

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