Date: Tue Jan 9 00:13:13 EST 2001
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ait
ait (ayt) noun A small island, especially in a river. Also, eyot.
[Middle English eit, from Old English igeth, diminutive of ig, ieg, island.]

"Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows ...."
Charles Dickens, Bleak House, 1853.