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Webster 1913 Edition

Quit

Quit

(kwĭt)
,
Noun.
(Zool.)
Any one of numerous species of small passerine birds native of tropical America. See
Banana quit
, under
Banana
, and
Guitguit
.

Quit

(kwĭt)
,
Adj.
[OE.
quite
, OF.
quite
, F.
quitte
. See
Quit
,
Verb.
,
Quiet
.]
Released from obligation, charge, penalty, etc.; free; clear; absolved; acquitted.
Chaucer.
The owner of the ox shall be
quit
.
Ex. xxi. 28.
☞ This word is sometimes used in the form quits, colloquially; as, to be quits with one, that is, to have made mutual satisfaction of demands with him; to be even with him; hence, as an exclamation: Quits! we are even, or on equal terms. “To cry quits with the commons in their complaints.”
Fuller.

Quit

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Quit
or
Quitted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Quitting
.]
[OE.
quiten
, OF.
quiter
,
quitier
,
cuitier
, F.
quitter
, to acquit, quit, LL.
quietare
, fr. L.
quietare
to calm, to quiet, fr.
quietus
quiet. See
Quiet
,
Adj.
, and cf.
Quit
,
Adj.
,
Quite
,
Acquit
,
Requite
.]
1.
To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate.
[R.]
To
quit
you of this fear, you have already looked Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it?
Wake.
2.
To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, or the like; to absolve; to acquit.
There may no gold them
quyte
.
Chaucer.
God will relent, and
quit
thee all his debt.
Milton.
3.
To discharge, as an obligation or duty; to meet and satisfy, as a claim or debt; to make payment for or of; to requite; to repay.
The blissful martyr
quyte
you your meed.
Chaucer.
Enkindle all the sparks of nature
To
quit
this horrid act.
Shakespeare
Before that judge that
quits
each soul his hire.
Fairfax.
4.
To meet the claims upon, or expectations entertained of; to conduct; to acquit; – used reflexively.
Be strong, and
quit
yourselves like men.
1 Sam. iv. 9.
Samson hath
quit
himself
Like Samson.
Milton.
5.
To carry through; to go through to the end.
[Obs.]
Never worthy prince a day did
quit

With greater hazard and with more renown.
Daniel.
6.
To have done with; to cease from; to stop; hence, to depart from; to leave; to forsake;
as, to
quit
work; to
quit
the place; to
quit
jesting.
Such a superficial way of examining is to
quit
truth for appearance.
Locke.
To quit cost
,
to pay; to reimburse.
–
To quit scores
,
to make even; to clear mutually from demands.
Does not the earth
quit scores
with all the elements in the noble fruits that issue from it?
South.
Syn. – To leave; relinquish; resign; abandon; forsake; surrender; discharge; requite.
–
Quit
,
Leave
. Leave is a general term, signifying merely an act of departure; quit implies a going without intention of return, a final and absolute abandonment.

Quit

,
Verb.
I.
To go away; to depart; to stop doing a thing; to cease.

Webster 1828 Edition

Quit

QUIT

,
Verb.
T.
pret. and pp. quit or quitted. [L. cedo. The sense of quit is to leave, to withdraw from; but the primary sense of the root must have been to move or to send; for to requite is to send back.]
1.
To leave; to depart from, either temporarily or forever. It does not necessarily include the idea of abandoning, without a qualifying word. A man quits his house for an hour, or for a month. He quits his native country on a voyage or he quits it forever; he quits an employment with the intention of resuming it.
2.
To free; to clear; to liberate; to discharge from.
To quit you of this fear, you have already looked death in the face. [Nearly obsolete.]
3.
To carry through; to do or perform something to the end, so that nothing remains; to discharge or perform completely.
Never a worthy prince a day did quit with greater hazard and with more renown.
4.
To quit one's self, reciprocally, to clear one's self of incumbent duties by full performance.
Samson hath quit himself like Samson.
In this sense, acquit is generally used.
5.
To repay; to requite.
- Enkindle all the sparks of nature to quit this horrid act.
In this sense, quit is now rarely used. We use requite.
6.
To vacate obligation; to release; to free from
Dangers of law, actions, decrees, judgments against us quitted.
7.
To pay; to discharge; hence, to free from; as, to quit the debt of gratitude.
8.
To set free; to release; to absolve; to acquit.
Guiltless I quit, guilty I set them free. In this sense, acquit is now used.
9.
To leave; to give up; to resign; to relinquish; as, to quit an office.
10.
To pay.
Before that judge that quits each soul his hire. [Not used.]
11.
To forsake; to abandon.
Such a superficial way of examining is to quit truth for appearance.
To quit cost, to pay; to free from by an equivalent; to reimburse; as, the cultivation of barren land will not always quit cost.
To quit scores, to make even; to clear mutually from demands by mutual equivalents given. We will quit scores [marks of charges] before we part.
Does not the earth quit scores with all the elements in her noble fruits?

QUIT

,
Adj.
Free; clear; discharged from; absolved.
The owner of the ox shall be quit. Ex. 21. [This word, though primarily a participle, and never placed before its noun, has properly the sense of an adjective.]
Qui tam, [L.] A qui tam action, in law, is a popular action, in which a man prosecutes an offender for the king or state, as well as for himself.

Definition 2024

quit

quit

See also: quít, quît, and quịt

English

Verb

quit ‎(third-person singular simple present quits, present participle quitting, simple past and past participle quit or quitted)

  1. (transitive, archaic) To pay (a debt, fine etc.).
    • (Can we date this quote?)William Shakespeare
      Enkindle all the sparks of nature / To quit this horrid act.
    • (Can we date this quote?)Edward Fairfax
      that judge that quits each soul his hire
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To repay (someone) for (something).
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xiv, in Le Morte Darthur, book II:
      I was but late att a Iustynge / and there I Iusted with a knyghte that is broder vnto kynge Pellam / and twyes smote I hym doune / & thenne he promysed to quyte me on my best frynde / and so he wounded my sone that can not be hole tyll I haue of that knyghtes blood
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To repay, pay back (a good deed, injury etc.).
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.v:
      Vnthankfull wretch (said he) is this the meed, / With which her soueraigne mercy thou doest quight?
  4. (reflexive, archaic) To conduct or acquit (oneself); to behave (in a specified way).
    • 1611, Bible (KJV), Samuel-Chapter-4/#9 1 Samuel 4:9:
      Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
    • (Can we date this quote?)John Milton
      Samson hath quit himself like Samson.
  5. (transitive, archaic) To carry through; to go through to the end.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Samuel Daniel
      Never worthy prince a day did quit / With greater hazard and with more renown.
  6. (transitive) To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate.
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Wake
      To quit you of this fear, you have already looked Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it?
  7. (transitive) To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, etc.; to absolve; to acquit.
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
      God will relent, and quit thee all his debt.
  8. (transitive) To abandon, renounce (a thing).
  9. (transitive) To leave (a place).
  10. (transitive, intransitive) To resign from (a job, office, position, etc.).
    After having to work overtime without being paid, I quit my job.‎
  11. (transitive, intransitive) To stop, give up (an activity) (usually + gerund or verbal noun).
    John is planning to quit smoking.‎
  12. (transitive, computing) To close (an application).
Conjugation
Derived terms
Quotations
  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:quit.
Usage notes
  • The past tense of quit is now quit for most speakers and writers; dictionaries usually allow quitted as an alternative, but it is rare or nonexistent in North America and Australia, and outnumbered by quit by about 16 to 1 in the British National Corpus. Quitted is more commonly used to mean “left”. e.g., She quitted her job.
References

Pam Peters, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, Cambridge University Press, p. 453.

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

quit ‎(plural quits)

  1. Any of numerous species of small passerine birds native to tropical America.
Derived terms
Related terms

French

Verb

quit

  1. third-person singular past historic of quérir

Latin

Verb

quit

  1. third-person singular present active indicative of queō

Old French

Verb

quit

  1. first-person singular present indicative of quidier

Etymology

From Middle English quiten, quyten, from Anglo-Norman quitter, Old French quitter, from quitte ‎(“acquited, quit”), ultimately from Latin quietus.

Compare Dutch kwijten ‎(“to quit”), Low German quitten ‎(“to quit”), German quitten, quittieren, Danish kvitte, Swedish qvitta, kvitta ‎(“to quit, leave, set off”), Icelandic kvitta.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: kwĭt, IPA(key): /kwɪt/
  • Rhymes: -ɪt

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