quit
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: kwĭt
ipa: /kwɪt/
ipa: [kʰw̥ɪt]
rhymes: -ɪt
Forms: form: quits
form: quitting
form: quit
form: quit
form: quitted
form: quitted
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: quit
form: quit
form: quit
form: quitted
form: quit
form: quittest
form: quit
form: quitted
form: quittedst
form: quits
form: quitteth
form: quit
form: quitted
form: quit
form: quit
form: quitted
form: quit
form: quit
form: quitted
form: quit
form: -
form: quitting
form: quit
form: quitted
form: quight
Etymology: From Middle English quiten, quyten, from Anglo-Norman quitter, Old French quitter, from quitte (“acquitted, quit”), ultimately from Latin quietus, which itself derives from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyéh₁-ti-s, from *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest”). Doublet of coy, quite, quiet, and quietus.
Compare Dutch kwijten (“to quit”), German Low German quitten (“to quit”), German quitten, quittieren, Danish kvitte, Swedish qvitta, kvitta (“to quit, leave, set off”), Icelandic kvitta.
Senses: examples: text: The British quit India in the 1940s.
text: Jones had no sooner quitted the room, than the petty-fogger, in a whispering tone, asked Mrs Whitefield, “If she knew who that fine spark was?”
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
text: He quitted the lake on the 23rd of September, and on the 4th of October arrived at Queenstown, on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, having succeded in finding a transitable route.
ref: 1865, Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, page 33:
text: ... to cause the tenants to quit and give the plaintiff possession of the cottages, &c., ...
ref: 1865, Great Britain. Courts, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the English Courts of Common Law: With Tables of the Cases and Principal Matters, page 635:
text: The lions, if they left not the forest, would capture no prey; and the arrow, if it quitted not the bow, would not strike the mark.
ref: 1912, Edward Stanley Poole, transl., The Thousand and One Nights:
text: At Malta the chief engineer of the ship, who always had been a good friend of mine, urged me to quit the sea; "otherwise," he said, "if you stay too long, you may, like myself, be condemned to wander about the world all your life and see your home only occasionally."
ref: 1943 January and February, Chas. S. Lake, “Some C.M.Es. I Have Known: IV—H. A. Ivatt”, in Railway Magazine, page 32:
glosses: To leave (a place).
examples: text: To quit you […] of this fear, […]you have already lookt Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it?
ref: 1688, William Wake, Preparation for Death:
glosses: To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate.
examples: text: God will relent, and quit thee all his debt;
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 36, line 510:
glosses: To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, etc.; to absolve; to acquit.
glosses: To abandon, renounce (a thing).
examples: text: After having to work overtime without being paid, I quit my job.
glosses: To resign from (a job, office, position, etc.).
examples: text: John is planning to quit smoking.
glosses: To stop, give up (an activity).
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To close (an application).
examples: text: Edmund, enkindle all the sparkes of Nature
To quit this horrid acte.
ref: 1605, William Shakespeare, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
text: that judge that quits each soul his hire
ref: 1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC:
glosses: To pay (a debt, fine etc.).
examples: text: Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 4:9:
text: Samſon hath quit himſelf
 Like Samſon,
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 98, lines 1710–1711:
glosses: To conduct or acquit (oneself); to behave (in a specified way).
examples: text: Never worthy prince a day did quit
 With greater hazard and with more renown.
ref: 1595–1609, Samuel Daniel, Civil Wars:
glosses: To carry through; to go through to the end.
examples: text: Vnthankfull wretch (said he) is this the meed,
 With which her soueraigne mercy thou doest quight?
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: Forgive me, Rogero: 'tis my fate
 To love thy friend and quit thy love with hate.
ref: 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, III.2:
glosses: To repay, pay back (a good deed, injury etc.).
examples: text: I was but late att a Iustynge
 and there I Iusted with a knyghte that is broder vnto kynge Pellam
 and twyes smote I hym doune
 & thenne he promysed to quyte me on my best frynde
 and so he wounded my sone that can not be hole tyll I haue of that knyghtes blood
ref: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XIV, in Le Morte Darthur, book II:
text: But if that I knewe what his name hight,
For clatering of me I would him ſone quight;
For his falſe lying, of that I ſpake never,
I could make him ſhortly repent him forever:[…]
ref: 1515–c. 1516, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c., published 1568:
glosses: To repay (someone) for (something).
Synonyms: word: call it quits
word: conclude
word: finish
word: quit
Hypernyms: word: desist
word: end
Hyponyms: word: call it a day
word: call it a night
word: draw stumps
word: halt
word: pause
word: pull up stumps
word: close up shop
word: shut up shop
word: give notice
word: hang up one's boots
word: hang up one's hat
word: retire
Derived terms: don't quit your day job
force quit
hit it and quit it
quiet quit
quit buddy
quitclaim
quit claim deed
quit lit
quitrent
quits
quit scores
quitter
quit the oxygen habit
quit while one is ahead
rage quit