Adjacent Words

Quit definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

QUIT, v.t. pret. and pp. quit or quitted. [L. cedo. The sense of quit is to leave, to withdraw from; but the primary sense of the root must have been to move or to send; for to requite is to send back.]
1. To leave; to depart from, either temporarily or forever. It does not necessarily include the idea of abandoning, without a qualifying word. A man quits his house for an hour, or for a month. He quits his native country on a voyage or he quits it forever; he quits an employment with the intention of resuming it.
2. To free; to clear; to liberate; to discharge from.
To quit you of this fear, you have already looked death in the face. [Nearly obsolete.]
3. To carry through; to do or perform something to the end, so that nothing remains; to discharge or perform completely.
Never a worthy prince a day did quit with greater hazard and with more renown.
4. To quit one's self, reciprocally, to clear one's self of incumbent duties by full performance.
Samson hath quit himself like Samson.
In this sense, acquit is generally used.
5. To repay; to requite.
- Enkindle all the sparks of nature to quit this horrid act.
In this sense, quit is now rarely used. We use requite.
6. To vacate obligation; to release; to free from
Dangers of law, actions, decrees, judgments against us quitted.
7. To pay; to discharge; hence, to free from; as, to quit the debt of gratitude.
8. To set free; to release; to absolve; to acquit.
Guiltless I quit, guilty I set them free. In this sense, acquit is now used.
9. To leave; to give up; to resign; to relinquish; as, to quit an office.
10. To pay.
Before that judge that quits each soul his hire. [Not used.]
11. To forsake; to abandon.
Such a superficial way of examining is to quit truth for appearance.
To quit cost, to pay; to free from by an equivalent; to reimburse; as, the cultivation of barren land will not always quit cost.
To quit scores, to make even; to clear mutually from demands by mutual equivalents given. We will quit scores [marks of charges] before we part.
Does not the earth quit scores with all the elements in her noble fruits?
QUIT, a. Free; clear; discharged from; absolved.
The owner of the ox shall be quit. Exodus 21. [This word, though primarily a participle, and never placed before its noun, has properly the sense of an adjective.]
Qui tam, [L.] A qui tam action, in law, is a popular action, in which a man prosecutes an offender for the king or state, as well as for himself.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: put an end to a state or an activity; "Quit teasing your little brother" [syn: discontinue, stop, cease, give up, quit, lay off] [ant: bear on, carry on, continue, preserve, uphold]
2: give up or retire from a position; "The Secretary of the Navy will leave office next month"; "The chairman resigned over the financial scandal" [syn: leave office, quit, step down, resign] [ant: take office]
3: go away or leave [syn: depart, take leave, quit] [ant: stay]
4: turn away from; give up; "I am foreswearing women forever" [syn: foreswear, renounce, quit, relinquish]
5: give up in the face of defeat of lacking hope; admit defeat; "In the second round, the challenger gave up" [syn: drop out, give up, fall by the wayside, drop by the wayside, throw in, throw in the towel, quit, chuck up the sponge] [ant: enter, participate]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English quite, quit, from Anglo-French Date: 13th century released from obligation, charge, or penalty; especially free II. verb (quit; also quitted; quitting) Etymology: Middle English quiten, quitten, from Anglo-French quiter, from quite free of, released, from Latin quietus quiet, at rest Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. to make full payment of ; pay up <quit a debt> 2. to set free ; relieve, release <quit oneself of fear> 3. conduct, acquit <the youths quit themselves like men> 4. a. to depart from or out of b. to leave the company of c. give up 1 <quit a job> d. give up 2 <quit smoking> intransitive verb 1. to cease normal, expected, or necessary action <the engine quit> 2. to give up employment 3. to admit defeat ; give up Synonyms: see stop III. noun Date: circa 1923 the act or an instance of quitting a job

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & adj. --v.tr. (quitting; past and past part. quitted or quit) 1 (also absol.) give up; let go; abandon (a task etc.). 2 US cease; stop (quit grumbling). 3 a leave or depart from (a place, person, etc.). b (absol.) (of a tenant) leave occupied premises ( esp. notice to quit). 4 (refl.) acquit; behave ( quit oneself well). --predic.adj. (foll. by of) rid (glad to be quit of the problem). Phrases and idioms: quit hold of loose. Etymology: ME f. OF quitte, quitter f. med.L quittus f. L quietus QUIET

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quit Quit, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Quit or Quitted; p. pr. & vb. n. Quitting.] [OE. quiten, OF. quiter, quitier, cuitier, F. quitter, to acquit, quit, LL. quietare, fr. L. quietare to calm, to quiet, fr. quietus quiet. See Quiet, a., and cf. Quit, a., Quite, Acquit, Requite.] 1. To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate. [R.] To quit you of this fear, you have already looked Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it? --Wake. 2. To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, or the like; to absolve; to acquit. There may no gold them quyte. --Chaucer. God will relent, and quit thee all his debt. --Milton. 3. To discharge, as an obligation or duty; to meet and satisfy, as a claim or debt; to make payment for or of; to requite; to repay. The blissful martyr quyte you your meed. --Chaucer. Enkindle all the sparks of nature To quit this horrid act. --Shak. Before that judge that quits each soul his hire. --Fairfax. 4. To meet the claims upon, or expectations entertained of; to conduct; to acquit; -- used reflexively. Be strong, and quit yourselves like men. --I Sam. iv. 9. Samson hath guit himself Like Samson. --Milton. 5. To carry through; to go through to the end. [Obs.] Never worthy prince a day did quit With greater hazard and with more renown. --Daniel. 6. To have done with; to cease from; to stop; hence, to depart from; to leave; to forsake; as, to quit work; to quit the place; to quit jesting. Such a superficial way of examining is to quit truth for appearance. --Locke. To quit cost, to pay; to reimburse. To quit scores, to make even; to clear mutually from demands. Does not the earth quit scores with all the elements in the noble fruits that issue from it? --South. Syn: To leave; relinquish; resign; abandon; forsake; surrender; discharge; requite. Usage: Quit, Leave. Leave is a general term, signifying merely an act of departure; quit implies a going without intention of return, a final and absolute abandonment.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quit Quit, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Quit or Quitted; p. pr. & vb. n. Quitting.] [OE. quiten, OF. quiter, quitier, cuitier, F. quitter, to acquit, quit, LL. quietare, fr. L. quietare to calm, to quiet, fr. quietus quiet. See Quiet, a., and cf. Quit, a., Quite, Acquit, Requite.] 1. To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate. [R.] To quit you of this fear, you have already looked Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it? --Wake. 2. To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, or the like; to absolve; to acquit. There may no gold them quyte. --Chaucer. God will relent, and quit thee all his debt. --Milton. 3. To discharge, as an obligation or duty; to meet and satisfy, as a claim or debt; to make payment for or of; to requite; to repay. The blissful martyr quyte you your meed. --Chaucer. Enkindle all the sparks of nature To quit this horrid act. --Shak. Before that judge that quits each soul his hire. --Fairfax. 4. To meet the claims upon, or expectations entertained of; to conduct; to acquit; -- used reflexively. Be strong, and quit yourselves like men. --I Sam. iv. 9. Samson hath guit himself Like Samson. --Milton. 5. To carry through; to go through to the end. [Obs.] Never worthy prince a day did quit With greater hazard and with more renown. --Daniel. 6. To have done with; to cease from; to stop; hence, to depart from; to leave; to forsake; as, to quit work; to quit the place; to quit jesting. Such a superficial way of examining is to quit truth for appearance. --Locke. To quit cost, to pay; to reimburse. To quit scores, to make even; to clear mutually from demands. Does not the earth quit scores with all the elements in the noble fruits that issue from it? --South. Syn: To leave; relinquish; resign; abandon; forsake; surrender; discharge; requite. Usage: Quit, Leave. Leave is a general term, signifying merely an act of departure; quit implies a going without intention of return, a final and absolute abandonment.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quit Quit, n. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of small passerine birds native of tropical America. See Banana quit, under Banana, and Guitguit.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quit Quit, a. [OE. quite, OF. quite, F. quitte. See Quit, v., Quirt.] Released from obligation, charge, penalty, etc.; free; clear; absolved; acquitted. --Chaucer. The owner of the ox shall be quit. --Ex. xxi. 28. Note: This word is sometimes used in the form quits, colloquially; as, to be quits with one, that is, to have made mutual satisfaction of demands with him; to be even with him; hence, as an exclamation: Quits! we are even, or on equal terms. ``To cry quits with the commons in their complaints.'' --Fuller.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quit Quit, v. i. To away; to depart; to stop doing a thing; to cease.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Guitguit Guit"guit`, n. [So called from its note.] (Zo["o]l.) One of several species of small tropical American birds of the family C[oe]rebid[ae], allied to the creepers; -- called also quit. See Quit.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(quits, quitting) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. Note: The form 'quit' is used in the present tense and is the past tense and past participle. 1. If you quit your job, you choose to leave it. (INFORMAL) He quit his job as an office boy in Athens... He figured he would quit before Johnson fired him. VERB: V n, V 2. If you quit an activity or quit doing something, you stop doing it. (mainly AM) A nicotine spray can help smokers quit the habit without putting on weight... I was trying to quit smoking at the time. = give up VERB: V n/-ing, V n/-ing 3. If you quit a place, you leave it completely and do not go back to it. ...the idea that humans might one day quit the earth to colonise other planets... VERB: V n 4. If you say that you are going to call it quits, you mean that you have decided to stop doing something or being involved in something. They raised $630,000 through listener donations, and then called it quits... PHRASE: V inflects

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kwit: Same derivation as "quiet," so that "to be quit" (Ex 21:19,28; Jos 2:20 the King James Version) is "to be relieved of responsibility," naqah, naqi, "guiltless" (so the Revised Version (British and American) Jos 2:20). Hence, "to quit one's self" means "to be freed by discharging a duty." The phrase in English Versions of the Bible, however, is a gloss for in 1Sa 4:9 it is used for hayah, "to be," while in 1Co 16:13 andrizomai, means "to behave like a man."

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Deliver, release, free, acquit, absolve, set free. 2. Free, relieve, clear, liberate, discharge from, deliver. 3. Acquit, conduct (used reflexively). 4. Resign, give up, renounce, relinquish, surrender. 5. Perform, carry through. 6. Pay, discharge, requite, repay. 7. Leave (with the purpose of never returning), withdraw from, go away from, retire from, depart from, get away from. 8. Abandon, desert, forsake, forswear, cast off. II. a. Clear, free, absolved, released, acquitted, discharged.

Moby Thesaurus

abandon, abdicate, abjure, abort, abscond, acquit, act, atone, back out, be pensioned, be superannuated, bear, beat a retreat, beat it, beg off, belay, blow, bow out, cancel, carry, cease, chuck, clear, clear of, clear off, come off, compensate, comport, conduct, cry off, cut it out, cut out, decamp, demean, demit, depart, depart from, deport, desert, desist, desist from, disappear, discard, discharge, discharged, discontinue, disuse, drop, drop it, drop out, end, evacuate, exempt from, exit, flee, forsake, free, free of, get away, get away from, get off, get satisfaction, give notice, give over, give up, go, go back on, go on, halt, have done with, hold, indemnify, jettison, jilt, kick back, knock it off, knock off, lay off, leave, leave behind, leave flat, leave off, let go, liquidate, make amends, make good, make reparation, make requital, make restitution, make retribution, make up for, make up to, maroon, nol-pros, not pursue with, pay, pay back, pay in kind, pay off, pay up, pension off, pull out, put behind one, quit cold, quit of, recompense, recoup, redress, refrain, refund, reimburse, relinquish, remove, renege, renounce, renounce the throne, repay, requite, resign, retire, retire from office, retreat, reward, rid, rid of, satisfy, say goodbye to, scrub, secede, settle, shed of, shut of, skip, square, stand aside, stand down, stay, step aside, stop, superannuate, surcease, surrender, take leave of, take off, terminate, throw over, vacate, vanish, waive, withdraw, withdraw from