Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Suit?

\Suit\, n. [OE. suite, F. suite, OF. suite, sieute, fr. suivre to follow, OF. sivre; perhaps influenced by L. secta. See {Sue} to follow, and cf. {Sect}, {Suite}.] 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 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. --Shak. 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 sw[=e]t. 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 sw[=e]t. 7. A number of things used together, and generally necessary to be united in order to answer their purpose; a number of things ordinarily classed or used together; a set; as, a suit of curtains; a suit of armor; a suit of clothes. ``Two rogues in buckram suits.'' --Shak. 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, cubs, or diamonds. To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort 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. {Out of suits}, having no correspondence. [Obs.] --Shak. {Suit and service} (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 do military service; -- called also {suit service}. --Blackstone. {Suit broker}, one who made a trade of obtaining the suits of petitioners at court. [Obs.] {Suit court} (O. Eng. Law), the court in which tenants owe attendance to their lord. {Suit covenant} (O. Eng. Law), a covenant to sue at a certain court. {Suit custom} (Law), a service which is owed from time immemorial. {Suit service}. (Feudal Law) See {Suit and service}, above. {To bring suit}. (Law) (a) To bring secta, followers or witnesses, to prove the plaintiff's demand. [Obs.] (b) In modern usage, to institute an action. {To follow suit}. (Card Playing) See under {Follow}, v. t.
\Suit\, v. 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 word. --Shak. 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 suits song of piety and thee. --Prior. 3. To dress; to clothe. [Obs.] So went he suited to his watery tomb. --Shak. 4. To please; to make content; as, he is well suited with his place; to suit one's taste.
\Suit\, v. 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 suits with me so ill. --Addison. Syn: To agree; accord; comport; tally; correspond; match; answer.