Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Suit
Suit
(sūt)
, Noun.
1.
The act of following or pursuing, as game; pursuit.
[Obs.]
2.
The act of suing; the process by which one endeavors to gain an end or an object; an attempt to attain a certain result; pursuit; endeavor.
Thenceforth the
suit
of earthly conquest shone. Spenser.
3.
The act of wooing in love; the solicitation of a woman in marriage; courtship.
Rebate your loves, each rival
Till this funereal web my labors end.
suit
suspend,Till this funereal web my labors end.
Pope.
4.
(Law)
The attempt to gain an end by legal process; an action or process for the recovery of a right or claim; legal application to a court for justice; prosecution of right before any tribunal;
as, a civil
suit
; a criminal suit
; a suit
in chancery.I arrest thee at the
suit
of Count Orsino. Shakespeare
In England the several
suits
, or remedial instruments of justice, are distinguished into three kinds – actions personal, real, and mixed. Blackstone.
5.
That which follows as a retinue; a company of attendants or followers; the assembly of persons who attend upon a prince, magistrate, or other person of distinction; – often written
suite
, and pronounced swēt
. 6.
Things that follow in a series or succession; the individual objects, collectively considered, which constitute a series, as of rooms, buildings, compositions, etc.; – often written
suite
, and pronounced swēt
. 8.
(Playing Cards)
One of the four sets of cards which constitute a pack; – each set consisting of thirteen cards bearing a particular emblem, as hearts, spades, clubs, or diamonds; also, the members of each such suit held by a player in certain games, such as bridge;
as, hearts were her long
. suit
To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort
Her mingled
Her mingled
suits
and sequences. Cowper.
9.
Regular order; succession.
[Obs.]
Every five and thirty years the same kind and
suit
of weather comes again. Bacon.
10.
Hence: (derived from def 7)
Someone who dresses in a business suit, as contrasted with more informal attire;
specifically,
a person, such as business executive, or government official, who is apt to view a situation formalistically, bureaucratically, or according to formal procedural criteria; – used derogatively for one who is inflexible, esp. when a more humanistic or imaginative approach would be appropriate.
Suit
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Suited
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Suiting
.] 1.
To fit; to adapt; to make proper or suitable;
as, to
. suit
the action to the wordShak.
2.
To be fitted to; to accord with; to become; to befit.
Ill
suits
his cloth the praise of railing well. Dryden.
Raise her notes to that sublime degree
Which
Which
suits
song of piety and thee. Prior.
3.
To dress; to clothe.
[Obs.]
So went he
suited
to his watery tomb. Shakespeare
4.
To please; to make content;
as, he is well
. suited
with his place; to suit
one’s tasteSuit
,Verb.
I.
To agree; to accord; to be fitted; to correspond; – usually followed by with or to.
The place itself was
suiting
to his care. Dryden.
Give me not an office
That
That
suits
with me so ill. Addison.
Syn. – To agree; accord; comport; tally; correspond; match; answer.
Webster 1828 Edition
Suit
SUIT
,Noun.
1.
Consecution; succession; series; regular order; as the same kind and suit of weather. [Not now so applied.]2.
A set; a number of things used together, and in a degree necessary to be united, in order to answer the purpose; as a suit of curtains; a suit of armor; sometimes with less dependence of the particular parts on each other, but still united in use; as a suit of clothes; a suit of apartments.3.
A set of the same kind or stamp, as a suit of cards.4.
Retinue; a company or number of attendants or followers; attendance; train; as a nobleman and his suit. [This is sometimes pronounced as a French word, sweet; but in all its senses, this is the same word, and the affectation of making it French in one use and English in another, is improper, not to say ridiculous.]5.
A petition; a seeking for something by petition or application. Many shall make suit to thee. Job 11.
6.
Solicitation of a woman in marriage; courtship.7.
In law, an action or process for the recovery of a right or claim; legal application to a court for justice; prosecution of right before any tribunal; as a civil suit; a criminal suit; a suit in chancery. In England, the several suits or remedial instruments of justice, are distinguished into three kinds, actions personal, real, and mixed.
8.
Pursuit; prosecution; chase.Suit and service, in feudal law, the duty of feudatories to attend the courts of their lords or superiors in time of peace, and in war, to follow them and perform military service.
To bring suit, a phrase in law, denoting literally to bring secta, followers or witnesses to prove the plaintif's demand. The phrase is antiquated, or rather it has changed its signification; for to bring a suit, now is to institute an action.
Out of suits, having no correspondence.
Suit-covenant, in law, is a covenant to sue at a certain court.
Suit-court, in law, the court in which tenants owe attendance to their lord.
SUIT
,Verb.
T.
1.
To become; to be fitted to. Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well.
Raise her notes to that sublime degree,
Which suits a song of piety and thee.
2.
To dress; to clothe. Such a Sebastian was by brother too,
So went he suited to his watery tomb.
3.
To please; to make content. He is well suited with his place.SUIT
,Verb.
I.
Give me not an office
That suits with me so ill--
The place itself was suiting to his care.
[The use of with, after suit, is now most frequent.]
Definition 2024
suit
suit
English
Noun
suit (plural suits)
- A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess:
- A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.
- 2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
- Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.
- Nick hired a navy-blue suit for the wedding.
-
- (by extension) A single garment that covers the whole body: space suit, boiler suit, protective suit.
- (pejorative, slang) A person who wears matching jacket and trousers, especially a boss or a supervisor.
- Be sure to keep your nose to the grindstone today; the suits are making a "surprise" visit to this department.
- A full set of armour.
- (law) The attempt to gain an end by legal process; a process instituted in a court of law for the recovery of a right or claim; a lawsuit.
- If you take my advice, you'll file suit against him immediately.
- (obsolete): The act of following or pursuing; pursuit, chase.
- Pursuit of a love-interest; wooing, courtship.
- Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend, Till this funereal web my labors end. —Alexander Pope.
- The full set of sails required for a ship.
- (card games) Each of the sets of a pack of cards distinguished by color and/or specific emblems, such as the spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs of traditional Anglo, Hispanic, and French playing cards.
- To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort Her mingled suits and sequences. — William Cowper.
- (obsolete) Regular order; succession.
- Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again. — Francis Bacon.
- (obsolete) The act of suing; the pursuit of a particular object or goal.
- Thenceforth the suit of earthly conquest shone. — Edmund Spenser.
- (archaic) A company of attendants or followers; a retinue.
- (archaic) A group of similar or related objects or items considered as a whole; a suite (of rooms etc.)
Derived terms
Terms derived from suit
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See also
| Suits in English · suits (see also: cards, playing cards) (layout · text) | |||
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| hearts | diamonds | spades | clubs |
Translations
suit of clothes
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single garment that covers the whole body
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slang: person who wears matching jacket and trousers, especially a hierarchical superior
law: lawsuit
pursuit, chase — see pursuit
full set of sails
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card games: set of cards distinguished by color and emblems
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regular order; succession
Verb
suit (third-person singular simple present suits, present participle suiting, simple past and past participle suited)
- To make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- Let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- (said of clothes, hairstyle or other fashion item) To be suitable or apt for one's image.
- The ripped jeans didn't suit her elegant image.
- That new top suits you. Where did you buy it?
- To be appropriate or apt for.
- The nickname "Bullet" suits her, since she is a fast runner.
- John Dryden (1631-1700)
- Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well.
- Matthew Prior (1664-1721)
- Raise her notes to that sublime degree / Which suits song of piety and thee.
- 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
- “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
- (most commonly used in the passive form) To dress; to clothe.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- So went he suited to his watery tomb.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- To please; to make content; as, he is well suited with his place; to fit one's taste.
- My new job suits me, as I work fewer hours and don't have to commute so much.
- (intransitive) To agree; to accord; to be fitted; to correspond; — usually followed by to, archaically also followed by with.
- John Dryden (1631-1700)
- The place itself was suiting to his care.
- Joseph Addison (1672-1719)
- Give me not an office / That suits with me so ill.
- John Dryden (1631-1700)
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to be fitted to
to be suitable or apt for one's image
to please, to make content
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to be appropriate or apt for
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