quit

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Archived revision by 119.224.103.40 (talk) as of 08:22, 8 January 2020.
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See also: quít, quît, and quịt

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • enPR: kwĭt, IPA(key): /kwɪt/, [kʰw̥ɪt]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪt

Etymology 1

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(deprecated template usage)

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English quiten, quyten, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "xno" is not valid. See WT:LOL. quitter, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French quitter, from quitte (“acquited, quit”), ultimately from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin quietus.

Compare Dutch kwijten (“to quit”), Low German quitten (“to quit”), German quitten, quittieren, Danish kvitte, Swedish qvitta, kvitta (“to quit, leave, set off”), Icelandic kvitta.

Verb

quit (third-person singular simple present quits, present participle quitting, simple past and past participle quit or quitted)

  1. (transitive, archaic) To pay (a debt, fine etc.).
    • 1605, William Shakespeare
      Enkindle all the sparks of nature / To quit this horrid act.
    • (Can we date this quote by Edward Fairfax and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      that judge that quits each soul his hire
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To repay (someone) for (something).
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XIV, in Le Morte Darthur, book II:
      :
      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
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To repay, pay back (a good deed, injury etc.).
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.v:
      Vnthankfull wretch (said he) is this the meed, / With which her soueraigne mercy thou doest quight?
    • 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, III.2:
      Forgive me, Rogero: 'tis my fate / To love thy friend and quit thy love with hate.
  4. (reflexive, archaic) To conduct or acquit (oneself); to behave (in a specified way).
    • Template:RQ:Authorized Version
      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.
    • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Samson hath quit himself like Samson.
  5. (transitive, archaic) To carry through; to go through to the end.
    • (Can we date this quote by Samuel Daniel and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Never worthy prince a day did quit / With greater hazard and with more renown.
  6. (transitive) To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate.
    • (Can we date this quote by William Wake and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      To quit you of this fear, you have already looked Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it?
  7. (transitive) To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, etc.; to absolve; to acquit.
    • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      God will relent, and quit thee all his debt.
  8. (transitive) To abandon, renounce (a thing).
  9. (transitive) To leave (a place).
  10. (transitive, intransitive) To resign from (a job, office, position, etc.).
    After having to work overtime without being paid, I quit my job.
  11. (transitive, intransitive) To stop, give up (an activity) (usually + gerund or verbal noun).
    John is planning to quit smoking.
  12. (transitive, computing) To close (an application).

Adjective

quit (not comparable)

  1. (usually followed by of) Released from obligation, penalty, etc; free, clear, or rid.
    • 1990, Claude de Bèze, 1688 revolution in Siam: the memoir of Father de Bèze, s.j, translated by E. W. Hutchinson, University Press, page 153:
      With mounting anger the King denounced the pair, both father and son, and was about to condemn them to death when his strength gave out. Faint and trembling he was unable to walk and the sword fell from his hands as he murmured: 'May the Protector of the Buddhist Faith grant me but seven more days grace of life to be quit of this disloyal couple, father and son'.
Usage notes
  • The past tense of quit is now quit for most speakers and writers; dictionaries usually allow quitted as an alternative, but it is rare or nonexistent in North America and Australia, and outnumbered by quit by about 16 to 1 in the British National Corpus. Quitted is more commonly used to mean “left”. e.g., She quitted her job.
Conjugation
Conjugation of qui
infinitive (to) qui
present tense past tense
1st-person singular qui quied
2nd-person singular
3rd-person singular quis
plural qui
subjunctive qui quied
imperative qui —
participles quiing quied
Quotations
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
References

Pam Peters, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, Cambridge University Press, p. 453.

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain.

Noun

quit (plural quits)

  1. Any of numerous species of small passerine birds native to tropical America. [from 19th c.]
Derived terms
Related terms

French

Verb

quit

  1. third-person singular past historic of quérir

Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) quit

  1. third-person singular present active indicative of queō

Old French

Verb

quit

  1. first-person singular present indicative of quidier
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