acquit

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See also acquît

Contents

English [edit]

Alternative forms [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English aquiten, from Old French aquiter, equivalent to a- +‎ quit. See quit, and compare acquiet.

Pronunciation [edit]

Verb [edit]

acquit (third-person singular simple present acquits, present participle acquitting or acquiting, simple past and past participle acquitted or acquited)

  1. To declare or find not guilty; innocent.
  2. (followed by “of”, formerly by “from”) To set free, release or discharge from an obligation, duty, liability, burden, or from an accusation or charge.
    The jury acquitted the prisoner of the charge.
    • 1775, Richard Sheridan, The Duenna
      His poverty, can you acquit him of that?
    • 1837, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Lord Bacon” in The Edinburgh Review, July 1837
      If he [Bacon] was convicted, it was because it was impossible to acquit him without offering the grossest outrage to justice and common sense.
  3. (obsolete, rare) To pay for; to atone for
  4. To discharge, as a claim or debt; to clear off; to pay off; to requite, to fulfill.
    • 1482 (earliest extant version), Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, Book II, 1200
      ‘Aquyte him wel, for goddes love,’ quod he;
    • 1640, Thomas Carew, Tasso
      Midst foes (as champion of the faith) he ment / That palme or cypress should his painees acquite.
    • 1836, Edward Everett, Orations I-382
      I admit it to be not so much the duty as the privilege of an American citizen to acquit this obligation to the memory of his fathers with discretion and generosity.
    • 1844, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Experience” in Essays: second series
      We see young men who owe us a new world, so readily and lavishly they promise, but they never acquit the debt; they die young and dodge the account: or if they live, they lose themselves in the crowd.
  5. (reflexive) To clear one’s self.
  6. (reflexive) To bear or conduct one’s self; to perform one’s part.
    The soldier acquitted himself well in battle.
    The orator acquitted himself very poorly.
    • 1766, Oliver Goldsmith, The vicar of Wakefield, xiv
      Though this was one of the first mercantile transactions of my life, yet I had no doubt about acquitting myself with reputation.
  7. (obsolete) To release, set free, rescue.

Synonyms [edit]

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the template {{sense|"gloss"}}, substituting a short version of the definition for "gloss".

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

to declare not guilty
to discharge from an obligation
to pay or atone for
to discharge a claim or debt
to clear one’s self
to perform one’s part
to release, rescue
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb [edit]

acquit

  1. (archaic) Past participle of acquit, set free, rid of.

References [edit]

French [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Verb [edit]

acquit

  1. third-person singular past historic of acquérir
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