# quitter
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈkwɪ.tə/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)
* Homophone: quittor

### Etymology 1

From Middle English quitter, from Anglo-Norman quiture, quyture et al., specialised use of quiture (“burn mark, burning”), from the participle stem of cuire (“to cook”), or from Latin coctura (“cooking”).

#### Alternative forms

* quittor (obsolete except farriery)
* quitture (obsolete)

#### Noun

quitter (uncountable)
* (now rare outside Jamaica) Matter flowing from a wound or sore; pus.
** 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Job II:Therfor Sathan [...] smoot Joob with a ful wickid botche fro the sole of the foot til to his top; which Joob schauyde the quytere with a schelle, and sat in the dunghil.
* (farriery) Alternative spelling of quittor (“fistulous wound at the top of a horse's foot”)
* (obsolete) Scoria of tin.

#### Verb

quitter (third-person singular simple present quitters, present participle quittering, simple past and past participle quittered)
* To suppurate; ooze with pus.

### Etymology 2

From quit +‎ -er.

#### Noun

quitter (plural quitters)
* One who quits, as:
** One who gives in.
    Synonym: (humorous) giver-upper
    Winners never quit and quitters never win.
    Don't be a quitter — hang in there!
*** 1974 August 8, Richard Nixon, 2:00 from the start, in Richard Nixon's resignation speech‎, CBSN:I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as president, I must put the interests of America first.
*** 2001, Peter Mandelson, 4:14 from the start, in 2001 victory speech‎, ITV:Well, they underestimated Hartlepool, and they underestimated me because I am a fighter and not a quitter!
** One who succeeds in desisting from a vice, especially smoking, drinking, or drugging.
    Hypernym: ever-smoker
    Coordinate term: never-smoker
    Quitters are winners! If you can't quit on the first try, hang in there and try to quit again!
* (archaic) A leaver.
* (obsolete) A deliverer.

##### Derived terms

* ragequitter
* spitters are quitters

##### Translations
## French
### Etymology

From quitte +‎ -er, or from Late Latin quietare (“acquit, discharge, release”), from Latin quiētāre (“to calm”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ki.te/
* Audio:(file)

### Verb

quitter
* (transitive, law or obsolete) to discharge somebody from an obligation
* (transitive, of a place) to leave, to quit
* (transitive, of a person) to part with somebody, to leave somebody

#### Derived terms

* ne pas quitter d’une semelle
* ne pas quitter des yeux
* quittance
* quitter le navire

#### Related terms

* acquitter

### Further reading

* “quitter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Middle French
### Etymology

Old French quitter.

### Verb

quitter
* to release from an obligation; to forgive (a debt)
* to liberate; to free
* to pardon
* to leave

#### Conjugation

* Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

#### Descendants

* French: quitter

### References

* quitter on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
* Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX$^e$ au XV$^e$ siècle (1881) (quitter, supplement)

## Old French
### Etymology

From Medieval Latin quiētus (“at rest”).

### Verb

quitter
* to liberate; to free

#### Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-tt, *-tts, *-ttt are modified to t, z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

#### Descendants

* → English: quit
* French: quitter

### References

* Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX$^e$ au XV$^e$ siècle (1881) (quitter, supplement)
* quitter on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
* James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Quitter”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.