Suit
Suit (sūt) , noun
[Old English suite, French suite, Old French suite, sieute, from suivre to follow, Old French sivre; perhaps influenced by Latin secta. See Sue to follow, and compare Sect, Suite.]
1.
The act of following or pursuing, as game; pursuit. [Obsolete]
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.
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.
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.
In England the several suits, or remedial instruments of justice, are distinguished into three kinds -- actions personal, real, and mixed.
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.
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; a three-piece business suit.
Two rogues in buckram suits.
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 suits and sequences.
9.
Regular order; succession. [Obsolete]
Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again.
10.
Someone who dresses in a business suit, as contrasted with more informal attire;
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.
Collocations (11)
Out of suits , having no correspondence. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare
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. [Obsolete]
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. [Obsolete] (b) In modern usage, to institute an action.
To follow suit (Card Playing) , (a) (Card Playing) See under Follow, v. t. (b) To mimic the action of another person; to perform an action similar to what has preceded; as, when she walked in, John left the room and his wife followed suit.
long suit (Card Playing) , the suit{8} of which a player has the largest number of cards in his hand; as, his long suit was clubs, but his partner insisted on making hearts trumps.. [figurative] that quality or capability which is a person's best asset; as, we could see from the mess in his room that neatness was not his long suit.
strong suit , same as long suit, (b). I think our strong suit is that we can score from both the perimeter and the post. Rigid ideological consistency has never been a strong suit of the Whole Earth Catalogue.
Suit , transitive verb
1.
To fit; to adapt; to make proper or suitable; as, to suit the action to the word. — Shakespeare
2.
To be fitted to; to accord with; to become; to befit.
Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well.
Raise her notes to that sublime degree
Which suits song of piety and thee.
3.
To dress; to clothe. [Obsolete]
So went he suited to his watery tomb.
4.
To please; to make content; as, he is well suited with his place; to suit one's taste.
Suit , intransitive verb
To agree; to accord; to be fitted; to correspond; -- usually followed by with or to.
The place itself was suiting to his care.
Give me not an office
That suits with me so ill.