masterbit

English

Etymology

From master +‎ bit, modelled after masterpiece.

Noun

masterbit (plural masterbits)

1. (dialectal or humorous) Masterpiece.
   • 1875, Alden's Oxford Magazine, volumes 6-7, page 105:

     But that there job with that French Count was my masterbit.

   • 1893, Broad Norfolk, page 28:

     The young man at once gave his address, and then his name, whereupon the stranger grasped his hand, and said, “That's the masterbit; I used to live next door to yer father, and I ha' nussed you many a time when you wor a nipper.”

   • 1949, Harold John Massingham, Chiltern Country:

     These Lisley ricks are, as we say in Oxon, a “masterbit” and as much superior to the average rick as a poem to a set of newspaper verses.

   • 2015, Ethan Mordden, Open a New Window: The Broadway Musical in the 1960s, page 45:

     And that title song, an impishly dashing waltz for four tenors, remains one of Styne's least appreciated masterbits, truly imaginative writing from this supposed pop tunesmith.

   • 2015, Maudie Smith, Opal Moonbaby and the Out of this World Adventure: Book 2:

     'See you tomorrow then, Best and Only,' said Opal. 'I'm off to paint a masterbit!' 'Masterpiece, you mean!' squealed Lauren and Lisa in unison, as they whisked Opal away.

   • 2016, first published 2000, Damian Atkinson, The Selected Letters of W.E. Henley:

     Henley & Whibley's Prose was designed in three vols, would have included all manner of masterbits, in character & narrative, between John of Trevisa2 & Charles Dickens; […]