fit
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɪt/
rhymes: -ɪt
Forms: form: fits
form: fitting
form: fitted
form: fitted
form: fit
form: fit
Etymology: Possibly from Middle English fit (“an adversary of equal power”), of uncertain further origin. The original sense appears to have been "to marshal or deploy troops", which shifted to "to suit (troops to a certain location" > "suitable", and may be further related to Icelandic fitja (“to web, knit, cast on”).
Senses: examples: text: It fits the purpose.
text: The speaker should be certain that his subject fits the occasion.
ref: 1918, Richard Dennis Teall Hollister, Speech-making, publ. George Wahr, pg. 81
glosses: To be suitable for.
examples: text: Ten clowns fit in the car, but not a hundred.
text: The elevator can fit up to 10 people.
glosses: To have sufficient space available at some location to be able to be there.
examples: text: The small shirt doesn't fit me, so I'll buy the medium size.
text: If I lose a few kilos, the gorgeous wedding dress might fit me.
glosses: To conform to in size and shape.
examples: text: I know the pieces fit / 'Cause I watched them fall away
ref: 2001, “Schism”, in Maynard James Keenan (lyrics), Adam Jones, Danny Carey, Maynard James Keenan, and Justin Chancellor (music), Lateralus, performed by Tool, track 5:
text: Even though in a way you let him freeze to death in the water, because the way I see it...
I agree. Y'know, I think he actually could have fitted on that bit of door.
There was plenty of room on the raft.
I know. I know, I know.
ref: 2016 February 2, Kate Winslet et al., Jimmy Kimmel Live!:
text: I wanted to borrow my little sister's jeans, but they didn't fit.
text: That plug fit into the other socket, but it won't go in this one.
synonyms: sit
glosses: To be of the right size and shape
examples: text: I want to fit the drapes to the windows.
glosses: To make conform in size and shape.
raw_tags: with to
examples: text: I had a suit fitted by the tailor.
glosses: To make conform in size and shape.
To tailor; to change to the appropriate size.
raw_tags: with to
examples: text: These definitions fit most of the usage.
text: Type D half-lines ending in words of this type are analysed by Hutcheson as ending in two completely unstressed syllables. That analysis must be descriptively correct for, say, the 10th cent.; whether it would have fitted the facts in the 8th cent. is much less clear.
ref: 2004 October 14, Don Ringe, “Old English maþelian, mæþlan, mǣlan”, in J. H. W. Penney, editor, Indo-European Perspectives: Studies in Honour of Anna Morpurgo Davies, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 427:
glosses: To be in agreement with.
examples: text: The regression program fit a line to the data.
glosses: To adjust.
examples: text: Williams had a problem fitting his left rear tyre and that left Alonso only 3.1secs adrift when he rejoined from his final stop three laps later.
ref: 2012 May 13, Andrew Benson, “Williams's Pastor Maldonado takes landmark Spanish Grand Prix win”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: To attach, especially when requiring exact positioning or sizing.
examples: text: The chandler will fit us with provisions for a month.
glosses: To equip or supply.
examples: text: I'm fitting the ship for a summer sail home.
text: Thirty years ago, if a girl wished for training, there was none to be had. I can truly say there was no training to be had to fit a woman thoroughly for any life whatever.
ref: 1871, Florence Nightingale, Una and the Lion, page 12:
glosses: To make ready.
glosses: To be seemly.
examples: text: Nor fits it to prolong the heav'nly feast.
ref: 1725, Homer, “Book III”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
glosses: To be proper or becoming.
examples: text: The paint, the fabrics, the rugs all fit.
synonyms: mesh
glosses: To be in harmony.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: autofit
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: backfit
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: close-fitting
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: could fit on the back of a postage stamp
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: first-fit
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fit in
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fit into
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fit like a glove
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fitment
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fitout
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fit-out
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fit out
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fittable
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fit the bill
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fit to a T
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fit together
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: fit up
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: form-fitting
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: if I fits, I sits
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: if it fits, I sits
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: if the shoe fits
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: ill-fitting
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: loose-fitting
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: misfit
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: overfit
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: prefit
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: refit
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: retrofit
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: tight-fitting
sense: Terms derived from fit (verb)
word: underfit