suit

noun
/sjuːt//suːt/UK/sut/US

Etymology

From Middle English sute, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suite and Old French sieute, siute (modern suite), originally a participle adjective from Vulgar Latin *sequita (for secūta), from Latin sequi (“to follow”), because the component garments "follow each other", i.e. are worn together. See also the doublet suite. Cognate with Italian seguire and Spanish seguir. Related to sue and segue.

  1. derived from sequi
  2. derived from *sequita
  3. derived from sieute
  4. derived from suite
  5. inherited from sute

Definitions

  1. A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers…

    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.

    • 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.
    • Nick hired a navy-blue suit for the wedding.
  2. A garment or set of garments suitable and/or required for a given task or activity

    A garment or set of garments suitable and/or required for a given task or activity: space suit, boiler suit, protective suit, swimsuit.

  3. A dress.

  4. + 19 more definitions
    1. 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.
      • You had an army / Of suits behind you
      • Two smartly dressed suits walked up to the doctor. "Are you alright Dr. La Perouse?"
    2. A full set of armour.

    3. The attempt to gain an end by legal process

      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 a suit against him immediately.
    4. Petition, request, entreaty.

      • Tam[burlaine]. Are you the wittie King of Perſea? Myc[etes]. I marrie am I: haue you any ſute to me? Tam[burlaine]. I woulde intreate you to ſpeake but three wiſe wordes.
    5. The act of following or pursuing

      The act of following or pursuing; pursuit, chase.

    6. Pursuit of a love-interest

      Pursuit of a love-interest; wooing, courtship.

      • Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend, Till this funereal web my labors end.
    7. The act of suing

      The act of suing; the pursuit of a particular object or goal.

      • Thenceforth the suitt of earthly conquest shonne.
    8. The full set of sails required for a ship.

    9. Each of the sets of a pack of cards distinguished by colour and/or specific emblems, such…

      Each of the sets of a pack of cards distinguished by colour 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.
    10. Regular order

      Regular order; succession.

      • Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again.
    11. A company of attendants or followers

      A company of attendants or followers; a retinue.

    12. A group of similar or related objects or items considered as a whole

      A group of similar or related objects or items considered as a whole; a suite (of rooms etc.)

      • "You must wear these to-day, my dear child," said Lord Norbourne, as, entering the dressing-room of his daughter, he laid a suit of pearls on her table
    13. To make proper or suitable

      To make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit.

      • but let your owne Diſcretion be your Tutor: Sute the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action,
    14. 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?
    15. To be appropriate or apt for.

      • The nickname "Bullet" suits her, since she is a fast runner.
      • Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well.
      • c. 1700, Matthew Prior, epistle to Dr. Sherlock Raise her notes to that sublime degree / Which suits song of piety and thee.
    16. To dress

      To dress; to clothe.

      • So went he suited to his watery tomb.
    17. To please

      To please; to make content; to fit someone's (or one's own) taste.

      • will build to suit   [on for-sale signs marking vacant lots]
      • He is well suited with his place.
      • My new job suits me, as I work fewer hours and don't have to commute so much.
    18. To agree

      To agree; to be fitted; to correspond (usually followed by to, archaically also followed by with).

      • The place itself was suiting to his care.
      • Give me not an office / That suits with me so ill.
    19. A surname.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at suit. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01suit02woman03adult04age05months06month07alternation08response09responding10respond

A definitional loop anchored at suit. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at suit

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA