suit

views updated May 29 2018

suit / soōt/ • n. 1. a set of outer clothes made of the same fabric and designed to be worn together, typically consisting of a jacket and trousers or a jacket and skirt. ∎  a set of clothes to be worn on a particular occasion or for a particular activity: a jogging suit. ∎  a complete set of pieces of armor for covering the whole body. ∎  a complete set of sails required for a ship or for a set of spars. ∎  (usu. suits) inf. an executive in a business or organization, typically one regarded as exercising influence in an impersonal way: maybe now the suits in Washington will listen.2. any of the sets distinguished by their pictorial symbols into which a deck of playing cards is divided, in conventional decks comprising spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs.3. short for lawsuit. ∎  the process of trying to win a woman's affection, typically with a view to marriage: he could not compete with John's charms in Marian's eyes and his suit came to nothing. ∎ poetic/lit. a petition or entreaty made to a person in authority.• v. 1. [tr.] be convenient for or acceptable to: he lied whenever it suited him | [intr.] the apartment has two bedrooms—if it suits, you can have one of them. ∎  (suit oneself) [often in imper.] act entirely according to one's own wishes (often used to express the speaker's annoyance): “I'm not going to help you.” “Suit yourself.” ∎  go well with or enhance the features, figure, or character of (someone): the dress didn't suit her. ∎  (suit something to) archaic adapt or make appropriate for (something): they took care to suit their answers to the questions put to them.2. [intr.] put on clothes, typically for a particular activity: I suited up and entered the water.PHRASES: follow suitsee follow.ORIGIN: Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French siwte, from a feminine past participle of a Romance verb based on Latin sequi ‘follow.’ Early senses included ‘attendance at a court’ and ‘legal process’; senses 1 and 2 derive from an earlier meaning ‘set of things to be used together.’ The verb sense ‘make appropriate’ dates from the late 16th cent.

suit

views updated May 23 2018

suit
A. (hist.) attendance at court XIII;

B. †pursuit XIV; legal process XV;

C. †train, suite XIII;

D. †livery, garb XIII;

E. set, series XV. ME. siute, siwte, s(e)ute — AN. siute, OF. si(e)ute (mod. suite) :- Gallo-Rom. *sequita, sb. use of fem. pp. of *sequere follow, SUE.
Hence suit vb. †sue, pursue XV; provide with apparel; be agreeable or convenient to XVI. Whence suitable †matching, to match; †agreeing, accordant XVI; fitting, appropriate XVII.

Suit

views updated May 14 2018

Suit

a number of things used together; a company of followers or disciples. See also set, stand.

Examples : suit of armour, 1859; of beads, 1654; of biscuits (1 cwt); of clothes, 1761; of diamonds, 1782; of hair, 1893; of hangings, 1623; of hounds; of mallards (a flight), 1486; of oars, 1817; of pasturing paddocks, 1778; of pages, esquires, and chaplains, 1865; of pictures; of playing cards, 1529; of ribbons, 1762; of sails (a set), 1626; of saints and good men, 1612; of spars; of trees, 1402; of witnesses, 1647; of married women, 1799; of years, 1625.

suit

views updated May 14 2018

suit1 informal term for a high-ranking executive in a business or organization, typically one regarded as exercising influence in an impersonal way.

See also men in (grey) suits.

Suit

views updated May 09 2018

SUIT

A generic term, of comprehensive signification, referring to any proceeding by one person or persons against another or others in a court of law in which the plaintiff pursues the remedy that the law affords for the redress of an injury or the enforcement of a right, whether at law or inequity.

suit

views updated May 17 2018

suit2 suit the action to the word carry out one's stated intentions. With allusion to Hamlet's instructions to the actors in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

SUIT

views updated May 17 2018

SUIT Scottish and Universal Investment Trust