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fit - 27 dictionary results

fit

1[fit] adjective, fit⋅ter, fit⋅test, verb, fit⋅ted or fit, fit⋅ting, noun
–adjective
1. adapted or suited; appropriate: This water isn't fit for drinking. A long-necked giraffe is fit for browsing treetops.
2. proper or becoming: fit behavior.
3. qualified or competent, as for an office or function: a fit candidate.
4. prepared or ready: crops fit for gathering.
5. in good physical condition; in good health: He's fit for the race.
6. Biology.
a. being adapted to the prevailing conditions and producing offspring that survive to reproductive age.
b. contributing genetic information to the gene pool of the next generation.
c. (of a population) maintaining or increasing the group's numbers in the environment.
–verb (used with object)
7. to be adapted to or suitable for (a purpose, object, occasion, etc.).
8. to be proper or becoming for.
9. to be of the right size or shape for: The dress fitted her perfectly.
10. to adjust or make conform: to fit a ring to the finger.
11. to make qualified or competent: qualities that fit one for leadership.
12. to prepare: This school fits students for college.
13. to put with precise placement or adjustment: He fitted the picture into the frame.
14. to provide; furnish; equip: to fit a door with a new handle.
–verb (used without object)
15. to be suitable or proper.
16. to be of the right size or shape, as a garment for the wearer or any object or part for a thing to which it is applied: The shoes fit.
–noun
17. the manner in which a thing fits: The fit was perfect.
18. something that fits: The coat is a poor fit.
19. the process of fitting.
20. fit out or up, to furnish with supplies, equipment, clothing, furniture, or other requisites; supply; equip: to fit out an expedition.
21. fit to be tied, Informal. extremely annoyed or angry: He was fit to be tied when I told him I'd wrecked the car.
22. fit to kill, Informal. to the limit; exceedingly: She was dressed up fit to kill.

Origin:
1325–75; ME fitten; akin to MD vitten to befit


fit⋅ta⋅ble, adjective


1. suitable, apt, corresponding, meet, applicable, apropos. 2. fitting, befitting. 5. healthy, hale, hardy, strong, robust.


Both fit and fitted are standard as past tense and past participle of fit1: The new door fit (or fitted) the old frame perfectly. The suit had fitted (or fit) well last year. Fitted is somewhat more common than fit in the sense “to adjust, make conform”: The tailor fitted the suit with a minimum of fuss. In the passive voice, fitted is the more common past participle: The door was fitted with a new handle.

fit

2[fit]
–noun
1. a sudden, acute attack or manifestation of a disease, esp. one marked by convulsions or unconsciousness: a fit of epilepsy.
2. an onset, spell, or period of emotion, feeling, inclination, activity, etc.: a fit of anger; a fit of weeping.
3. by or in fits and starts, at irregular intervals; intermittently: This radio works by fits and starts.
4. throw a fit, to become extremely excited or angry: Your father will throw a fit when he hears what you have done.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME; OE fitt round of fighting. See fit 3

fit

3[fit]
–noun Archaic.
1. a song, ballad, or story.
2. a division of a song, ballad, or story.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE fitt round of singing, canto, song, speech

fit

4[fit]
–verb Nonstandard (chiefly Older Use).
pt. of fight.

FIT

Banking. Federal Insurance Tax.
fit 1   (fĭt)   
v.   fit·ted or fit, fit·ted, fit·ting, fits

v.   tr.
    1. To be the proper size and shape for: These shoes fit me.
    2. To cause to be the proper size and shape: The tailor fitted the trousers by shortening them.
    3. To measure for proper size: She fitted me for a new jacket.
  1. To be appropriate to; suit: music that fits your mood.
  2. To be in conformity or agreement with: observations that fit the theory nicely.
  3. To make suitable; adapt: fitted the shelves for large books. See Synonyms at adapt.
  4. To make ready; prepare: Specialized training fitted her for the job.
  5. To equip; outfit: fit out a ship.
  6. To provide a place or time for: You can't fit any more toys in the box. The doctor can fit you in today.
  7. To insert or adjust so as to be properly in place: fit a handle on a door.
v.   intr.
  1. To be the proper size and shape.
  2. To be suited; belong: doesn't fit in with these people.
  3. To be in harmony; agree: His good mood fit in with the joyful occasion.
adj.   fit·ter, fit·test
  1. Suited, adapted, or acceptable for a given circumstance or purpose: not a fit time for flippancy.
  2. Appropriate; proper: Do as you see fit.
  3. Physically sound; healthy: keeps fit with diet and exercise.
  4. Biology Successfully adapted to survive and produce viable offspring in a particular environment.
n.  
  1. The state, quality, or way of being fitted: the proper fit of means to ends.
  2. The manner in which clothing fits: a jacket with a tight fit.
  3. The degree of precision with which surfaces are adjusted or adapted to each other in a machine or collection of parts.

[Middle English fitten, to be suitable, marshal troops.]
fit'ly adv., fit'ter n.
fit 2   (fĭt)   
n.  
  1. Medicine
    1. A seizure or convulsion, especially one caused by epilepsy.
    2. The sudden appearance of a symptom such as coughing or sneezing.
  2. A sudden outburst of emotion: a fit of jealousy.
  3. A sudden period of vigorous activity.

[Middle English, hardship, probably from Old English fitt, struggle.]
fit 3   (fĭt)   
n.   Archaic
A section of a poem or ballad.

[Middle English, from Old English.]

Fit

Fit\, imp. & p. p. of Fight. [Obs. or Colloq.]

Fit

Fit\, n. [AS. fitt a song.] In Old English, a song; a strain; a canto or portion of a ballad; a passus. [Written also fitte, fytte, etc.]

To play some pleasant fit. --Spenser.

Fit

Fit\, a. [Compar. Fitter; superl. Fittest.] [OE. fit, fyt; cf. E. feat neat, elegant, well made, or icel. fitja to web, knit, OD. vitten to suit, square, Goth. f?tjan to adorn. ? 77.]

1. Adapted to an end, object, or design; suitable by nature or by art; suited by character, qualitties, circumstances, education, etc.; qualified; competent; worthy.

That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in. --Shak.

Fit audience find, though few. --Milton.

2. Prepared; ready. [Obs.]

So fit to shoot, she singled forth among her foes who first her quarry's strength should feel. --Fairfax.

3. Conformed to a standart of duty, properiety, or taste; convenient; meet; becoming; proper.

Is it fit to say a king, Thou art wicked? --Job xxxiv. 18.

Syn: Suitable; proper; appropriate; meet; becoming; expedient; congruous; correspondent; apposite; apt; adapted; prepared; qualified; competent; adequate.

Fit

Fit\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fitted; p. pr. & vb. n. Fitting.]

1. To make fit or suitable; to adapt to the purpose intended; to qualify; to put into a condition of readiness or preparation.

The time is fitted for the duty. --Burke.

The very situation for which he was peculiarly fitted by nature. --Macaulay.

2. To bring to a required form and size; to shape aright; to adapt to a model; to adjust; -- said especially of the work of a carpenter, machinist, tailor, etc.

The carpenter . . . marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes. --Is. xliv. 13.

3. To supply with something that is suitable or fit, or that is shaped and adjusted to the use required.

No milliner can so fit his customers with gloves. --Shak.

4. To be suitable to; to answer the requirements of; to be correctly shaped and adjusted to; as, if the coat fits you, put it on.

That's a bountiful answer that fits all questions. --Shak.

That time best fits the work. --Shak.

To fit out, to supply with necessaries or means; to furnish; to equip; as, to fit out a privateer.

To fit up, to firnish with things suitable; to make proper for the reception or use of any person; to prepare; as, to fit up a room for a guest.

Fit

Fit\, v. i. 1. To be proper or becoming.

Nor fits it to prolong the feast. --Pope.

2. To be adjusted to a particular shape or size; to suit; to be adapted; as, his coat fits very well.

Fit

Fit\, n. 1. The quality of being fit; adjustment; adaptedness; as of dress to the person of the wearer.

2. (Mach.) (a) The coincidence of parts that come in contact. (b) The part of an object upon which anything fits tightly.

Fit rod (Shipbuilding), a gauge rod used to try the depth of a bolt hole in order to determine the length of the bolt required. --Knight.

Fit

Fit\, n. [AS. fit strife, fight; of uncertain origin. [root] 77.]

1. A stroke or blow. [Obs. or R.]

Curse on that cross, quoth then the Sarazin, That keeps thy body from the bitter fit. --Spenser.

2. A sudden and violent attack of a disorder; a stroke of disease, as of epilepsy or apoplexy, which produces convulsions or unconsciousness; a convulsion; a paroxysm; hence, a period of exacerbation of a disease; in general, an attack of disease; as, a fit of sickness.

And when the fit was on him, I did mark How he did shake. --Shak.

3. A mood of any kind which masters or possesses one for a time; a temporary, absorbing affection; a paroxysm; as, a fit melancholy, of passion, or of laughter.

All fits of pleasure we balanced by an equal degree of pain. --Swift.

The English, however, were on this subject prone to fits of jealously. --Macaulay.

4. A passing humor; a caprice; a sudden and unusual effort, activity, or motion, followed by relaxation or insction; an impulse and irregular action.

The fits of the season. --Shak.

5. A darting point; a sudden emission. [R.]

A tongue of light, a fit of flame. --Coleridge.

By fits, By fits and starts, by intervals of action and re?pose; impulsively and irregularly; intermittently.
Language Translation for : fit
Spanish: sano, en forma,
German: in Form,
Japanese: 健康な

fit  (n.1)
1823, "the fitting of one thing to another," later (1831) "the way something fits." Origin obscure, possibly from O.E. fitt "a conflict, a struggle" (see fit (n.2)).

fit  (n.2)
"paroxysm, sudden attack" (as of anger), 1547, probably via M.E. sense of "painful, exciting experience," from O.E. fitt "conflict, struggle," of uncertain origin, with no clear cognates outside Eng. Phrase by fits and starts first attested 1620. Fitful was used once by Shakespeare ("Macbeth" iii.2) in sense of "characterized by fits," then revived by Scott (1810) with a sense of "shifting, changing."

fit  (adj.)
"suited to the circumstances, proper," c.1440, of unknown origin, perhaps from M.E. noun fit "an adversary of equal power" (c.1250), which is perhaps connected to fit (n.1). The verb meaning "to be the right shape" is first attested 1581. First record of fitness is from 1580. Survival of the fittest (1867) coined by H. Spencer.

fit

A condition in which a security fulfills an investor's portfolio needs. For example, an investor may select a new municipal bond because that bond's maturity makes it a good fit in the investor's portfolio.


Main Entry: 1fit
Pronunciation: 'fit
Function: noun
1 : a sudden violent attack of a disease (as epilepsy) especially when marked byconvulsions or unconsciousness : PAROXYSM
2 : a sudden but transient attack of a physicaldisturbance <fits of shivering>

Main Entry: 2fit
Function: adjective
Inflected Forms: fit·ter; fit·test
1 : adapted to the environment so as to becapable of surviving
2 : sound physically and mentally : HEALTHYfit·ness noun

Main Entry: 3fit
Function: noun
: the fact, condition, or manner of being fitted or adapted

fit 1 (fĭt)
v. fit·ted or fit, fit·ted, fit·ting, fits
To be the proper size and shape. adj. fit·ter, fit·test
Physically sound; healthy. n.
The degree of precision with which surfaces are adjusted or adapted to each other in a machine, device, or collection of parts.

fit 2 (fĭt)
n.

  1. A seizure or a convulsion, especially one caused by epilepsy.
  2. The sudden appearance of a symptom such as coughing or sneezing.

fit

In addition to the idioms beginning with fit, also see give someone fits; have a fit; if the shoe fits; see fit to; survival of the fittest.

FIT
frequent international traveler

fit

in literature, a division of a poem or song, a canto, or a similar division. The word, which is archaic, is of Old English date and has an exact correspondent in Old Saxon fittea, an example of which occurs in the Latin preface of the Heliand. It probably represents figurative use of a common Germanic noun referring to the unraveled edge of a fabric. Lewis Carroll revived this archaic poetic division (perhaps to lend gravity) in the composition of his 132-verse nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark (1876), beginning with "Fit the First: The Landing" and ending with "Fit the Eighth: The Vanishing."

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