Meaning

noun a strong post (as on a wharf or quay or ship for attaching mooring lines)

verb secure with a bitt

originFrom Middle English, probably of Low German or North Germanic origin, and the English form a corruption or contraction, from Old Norse biti, probably ultimately from a variant of Proto-Germanic *bitiz. Compare Swedish beting and Danish beding.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0