Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WHIT, n. [Sax. wiht, a creature, also a thing, something, any thing. This is probably from the root of L. vivo, victum.]

A point; a jot; the smallest part or particle imaginable. It is used without a preposition. He is not a whit the wiser for experience. It does not me a whit displease. – Cowley. The regular construction would be by a whit, or in a whit. In these phrases, a whit may be interpreted by in the least, in the smallest degree.