canon bit

noun

The part of a bit which is put in a horse's mouth.

OriginFrench canon →
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Meanings

nouncanon bit (plural canon bits)

plural canon bits

  1. obsoleterareThe part of a bit which is put in a horse's mouth.

    […] A goodly person, and could menage faire His stubborne steed with curbed canon bit

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    1 more example

    blind the disunions of complaining nature in chains together, and curb them with a canon bit

    1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC

Origin

  1. Frenchcanon
  2. Englishcanon bit

From French canon, from Latin canon (“a rule”).

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

canon bit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/canon%20bit

MLA

“canon bit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/canon%20bit. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “canon bit,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/canon%20bit.

Source: canon bit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.