Ait

An ait (pronounced /eɪt/, like "eight") or eyot (pronounced /aɪət/, /aɪt/, or /eɪt/) is a small island. It is especially used to refer to river islands found on the River Thames and its tributaries in England.

Aits are typically formed by the deposition of sediment in the water, which accumulates over a period of time. An ait is characteristically long and narrow, and may become a permanent island. However, aits may also be eroded: the resulting sediment is deposited further downstream and could result in another ait. A channel with numerous aits is called a braided channel.

References in literature

Although not common in 21st-century English, "ait" or "eyot" appears in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Charles Dickens' Bleak House, and Thackeray's Vanity Fair.

Joyce Cary used "eyot" in The Horse's Mouth – "Sun was in the bank. Streak of salmon below. Salmon trout above soaking into wash blue. River whirling along so fast that its skin was pulled into wrinkles like silk dragged over the floor. Shot silk. Fresh breeze off the eyot. Sharp as spring frost. Ruffling under the silk-like muscles in a nervous horse. Ruffling under my grief like ice and hot daggers."

William Aiton

William Aiton (1731 – 2 February 1793) was a Scottish botanist.

Aiton was born near Hamilton. Having been regularly trained to the profession of a gardener, he travelled to London in 1754, and became assistant to Philip Miller, then superintendent of the Chelsea Physic Garden. In 1759 he was appointed director of the newly established botanical garden at Kew, where he remained until his death. He effected many improvements at the gardens, and in 1789 he published Hortus Kewensis, a catalogue of the plants cultivated there. He is buried at nearby St. Anne's Church, Kew.

A second and enlarged edition of the Hortus was brought out in 1810–1813 by his eldest son.

Selected publications

References

Bibliography

AIT

AIT may refer to:

Geography

Government

Schools and education

In India

In the United States