/blit/ 1. To copy a large array of bits from one part of a computer's memory to another part, particularly when the memory is being used to determine what is shown on a display screen. "The storage allocator picks through the table and copies the good parts up into high memory, and then blits it all back down again." See bitblt , BLT , dd , cat , blast , snarf . More generally, to perform some operation (such as toggling) on a large array of bits while moving them.
2. Sometimes all-capitalised as "BLIT": an early experimental bit-mapped terminal designed by Rob Pike at Bell Labs , later commercialised as the AT&T 5620 . (The folk etymology from "Bell Labs Intelligent Terminal" is incorrect. Its creators liked to claim that "Blit" stood for the Bacon, Lettuce, and Interactive Tomato).
[ Jargon File ]
(1994-11-16)