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cow’s bis(s)i or litter in the stall. See bis(s)i¹, sb., and fla¹, sb.

bismer [bɩsmər], sb., steelyard; wooden lever-balance; rough scale for weighing large articles (30 to 40 lbs.). O.N. bismari, m., steelyard. Cf. punder, sb.

bisnakk [bɩs·nak·, bɩz·nak·], vb., to be busy with something without really doing or making anything definite with it, to be occupied with useless trifles; to b. aboot a ting; rather comm. Prob. an extended form of No. bisna, vb., inter alia, to tumble about; lay about one; make fun; also: to do something tentatively (R.).

bisper [bɩspər], sb., sea-term (tabu-name) for mouse. Fo. Prob. the same word as No. bispur, m., a tramp; knave; prop. a corruption (spisbur > bispur) from G. spitzbube. bisper is consequently of foreign — not Norn — orig., but is, however, prob., a Norw. form of the word.

*biss [bɩs(s)], interj., lullaby! b. b. bio! Uⁿ. No. bia (bya), vb., and bissa (byssa), vb., to lull.

bist [bɩst, bəst], sb., partly bad characteristics; bad disposition, partly a tendency to anger and bad temper, a ill b.; der’r [‘there is’] a ill b. in him. Wests. Partly = bost¹, sb. (q.v.). Prop. the word burst, f., bristle, cf. No. “bjoa bust”, to bid defiance (R.). See under birst (birstet), adj., and ill-bi(r)stet.

bist, vb., see ill-bist, vb.

*bister [bɩstər, bestər], sb., a) dwelling; farm; b) collection of farms. Now quite obs. as common noun, but it appears as the second part of compds. in a great number of names for farms and villages, so that the meaning of the word is still understood, e.g.: Brebister, Brettabister, Evrabister, Fladabister, Kirkabister, Krossbister, Simbister, Utrabister — see Shetl. Stedn. p. 80. In

old deeds comm. written as “buster”. In two names in the form busta [bosta]: Muklebusta [moklə-] and Litlebusta [lɩtlə-] (Sa.); Shetl. Stedn. p. 80. — O.N. bólstaðr, m., domicile; farm, as the second part in No. place-names, is often shortened to “bost, bust”.

bit¹ [bɩt], sb., a bit of something taken in the morning before breakfast proper, mornin-b. Sa. O.N. bit(i) and Eng. bit. For the application of the word in Shetl. cf. Fær. ábit, n., a bit of something taken in the morning before breakfast, No. aabit(e), m., bitaa, n., and Icel. árbiti, m. (Gísl.), breakfast. See ibit, sb.

bit² [bɩt], sb., sheep-mark; small (semicircular or triangular) piece cut out of the side of a sheep’s ear; comm.; almost = bidi 3. *biti; Fær. biti, m., sheep-mark; small piece, cut out of a sheep’s ear.

bit [bit, bi̇̄t], vb., to fix bids (small lengths of line of hemp or of horse-hair, see bid, sb.) to the end of a long-line, esp. to a tom (on long-line: another smaller line, attached to the long-line), to b. de line, de pakki (the long-line in its whole length). *bita, vb., to attach “bitar” (pieces). Shetl. bit, vb., however, approaches L.Sc. beit (beet), vb., to add to; mend; repair; “to bit de line”, may be heard in the sense of to repair the line, and must here be regarded as L.Sc. beit.

bite, vb., is in form Eng. bite, but sometimes it is used differently from this word, and corresponding to O.N. bíta; thus, in sense of: a) to eat; graze, of cattle (cf. hobiter, sb., and rennabitel, sb.); b) to cut, of cutting implements, esp. a knife, scythe, axe: to b. weel [‘well’] or ill. O.N. bíta, vb., to bite; eat; graze; cut with the edge; shear, etc.

bitel [bitəl, bɩtəl (bətəl)] and botel [bȯtəl (bətəl)], sb., large tooth, esp.: