Word: suit Part of Speech: noun 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. Pronunciation: /sjuːt/, /sɪu̯t/, /sjuʈ/, /suːt/, /sʉwt/ 1. A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman. Example: A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe. Example: Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food. 2. A garment or set of garments suitable and/or required for a given task or activity: space suit, boiler suit, protective suit, swimsuit. Labels: broadly 3. A dress. Labels: Pakistan 4. A person who wears matching jacket and trousers, especially a boss or a supervisor. Labels: derogatory, metonymically, slang Example: Be sure to keep your nose to the grindstone today; the suits are making a "surprise" visit to this department. Example: You had an army / Of suits behind you 5. A full set of armour. 6. The attempt to gain an end by legal process; a process instituted in a court of law for the recovery of a right or claim; a lawsuit. Example: If you take my advice, you'll file a suit against him immediately. 7. Petition, request, entreaty. Example: Tam[burlaine]. Are you the wittie King of Perſea? Myc[etes]. I marrie am I: haue you any ſute to me? Tam[burlaine]. I woulde intreate you to ſpeake but three wiſe wordes. 8. The act of following or pursuing; pursuit, chase. Labels: obsolete 9. Pursuit of a love-interest; wooing, courtship. Example: Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend, Till this funereal web my labors end. 10. The act of suing; the pursuit of a particular object or goal. Labels: obsolete Example: Thenceforth the suitt of earthly conquest shonne. 11. The full set of sails required for a ship. 12. Each of the sets of a pack of cards distinguished by colour and/or specific emblems, such as the spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs of traditional Anglo, Hispanic, and French playing cards. Example: To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort Her mingled suits and sequences. 13. Regular order; succession. Labels: obsolete Example: Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again. 14. A company of attendants or followers; a retinue. Labels: archaic 15. A group of similar or related objects or items considered as a whole; a suite (of rooms etc.) Labels: archaic Example: "You must wear these to-day, my dear child," said Lord Norbourne, as, entering the dressing-room of his daughter, he laid a suit of pearls on her table