suit
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /suːt/
enpr: so͞ot
note: yod-coalescence
ipa: /ʃuːt/
note: Conservative
ipa: /sjuːt/
enpr: syo͞ot
note: without the yod-coalescence
ipa: /sɪu̯t/
enpr: syo͞ot
note: Indic
ipa: /syʈ/
homophone: suite (spelling pronunciation)
ipa: /sut/
note: Scotland, Northern Ireland, foot-goose merger
ipa: /sʉt/
homophone: soot
Forms: form: suits
form: suiting
form: suited
form: suited
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.
Senses: examples: text: but let your owne Diſcretion be your Tutor: Sute the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action,
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 266, column 2:
glosses: To make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit.
examples: text: The ripped jeans didn't suit her elegant image.
text: That new top suits you. Where did you buy it?
qualifier: hairstyle or other fashion item
glosses: To be suitable or apt for one's image.
raw_tags: said of clothes
examples: text: The nickname "Bullet" suits her, since she is a fast runner.
text: Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well.
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: c. 1700, Matthew Prior, epistle to Dr. Sherlock
Raise her notes to that sublime degree / Which suits song of piety and thee.
text: “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 0029:
text: I'm going where the sun keeps shinin' […] / Going where the weather suits my clothes
ref: 1968, Fred Neil, “Everybody's Talkin'”, performed by Harry Nilsson:
glosses: To be appropriate or apt for.
examples: text: So went he suited to his watery tomb.
ref: c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
qualifier: most commonly used in the passive form
glosses: To dress; to clothe.
examples: text: will build to suit   [on for-sale signs marking vacant lots]
text: He is well suited with his place.
text: My new job suits me, as I work fewer hours and don't have to commute so much.
text: When's it suit you for me to call?
text: This arrangement suited everybody - right up until the moment that it suddenly didn't, when unions were able to point a loaded gun at management's head in any disputes.
ref: 2022 November 16, Nigel Harris, “Endless news... little context”, in RAIL, number 970, page 3:
glosses: To please; to make content; to fit someone's (or one's own) taste.
examples: text: The place itself was suiting to his care.
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: Give me not an office / That suits with me so ill.
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iii, page 1:
synonyms: agree
match
answer
glosses: To agree; to be fitted; to correspond (usually followed by to, archaically also followed by with).
Derived terms: suit down to the ground
suited and booted
suit one's book
suit oneself
suit the action to the word
suit up
suit yourself
unsuited