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quit

 - 5 dictionary results

quit

1  [kwit] verb, quit or quit⋅ted, quit⋅ting, adjective
Use quit in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to stop, cease, or discontinue: She quit what she was doing to help me paint the house.
2. to depart from; leave (a place or person): They quit the city for the seashore every summer.
3. to give up or resign; let go; relinquish: He quit his claim to the throne. She quit her job.
4. to release one's hold of (something grasped).
5. to acquit or conduct (oneself).
6. to free or rid (oneself): to quit oneself of doubts.
7. to clear (a debt); repay.
–verb (used without object)
8. to cease from doing something; stop.
9. to give up or resign one's job or position: He keeps threatening to quit.
10. to depart or leave.
11. to stop trying, struggling, or the like; accept or acknowledge defeat.
–adjective
12. released from obligation, penalty, etc.; free, clear, or rid (usually fol. by of): quit of all further responsibilities.
Origin:
1175–1225; (adj.) ME quit(te) exempt, freed, acquitted of (< OF quite) < ML quittus, by-form of quītus (≫ ME quit(e); see quite ), for L quiētus quiet 1 ; (v.) ME quit(t)en to pay, acquit oneself < OF quit(t)er < ML quittāre, quiētāre to release, discharge, LL quiētare to put to rest, quiet 1

Related forms:
quit⋅ta⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
3. surrender, release. 12. acquitted, discharged.

Antonyms:
1, 8. start. 2. enter.

quit

2  [kwit]
–noun
any of various small tropical birds.
Origin:
1845–50; orig. Jamaican E, of uncert. orig.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To quit
quit   (kwĭt)   
v.   quit or quit·ted (kwĭt'ĭd), quit·ting, quits

v.   tr.

  1. To depart from; leave: "You and I are on the point of quitting the theater of our exploits" (Horatio Nelson).

  2. To leave the company of: had to quit the gathering in order to be home by midnight.

  3. To give up; relinquish: quit a job.

  4. To abandon or put aside; forsake: advised them to quit their dissipated ways.

  5. To cease or discontinue: asked them to quit talking; quit smoking.

  6. Computer Science To exit (an application).

    1. To rid oneself of by paying: quit a debt.

    2. To release from a burden or responsibility.

  8. To conduct (oneself) in a specified way: Quit yourselves like adults.

v.   intr.

  1. To cease performing an action. See Synonyms at stop.

  2. To give up, as in defeat; stop.

  3. To leave a job.

adj.  Absolved of a duty or an obligation; free.

[Middle English quiten, to release, from Old French quiter, from Medieval Latin quiētāre, quītāre, from Latin quiētus, at rest; see quiet.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

quit  (adj.)
c.1225, "free, clear," from O.Fr. quite "free, clear," from L. quietus "free" (in M.L. "free from war, debts, etc."), also "calm, resting" (see quiet). The verb is first attested c.1300, "to set free, redeem" (usually of a debt or suspicion); sense of "leave" is attested from c.1390; that of "to leave (a place)" is from 1603; that of "stop" (doing something) is from 1641. Meaning "to give up" is from 1440; quitting time is from 1835; quitter as an insult is 1881, Amer.Eng. Quits "even" (with another) is from 1663.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

quit

In addition to the idiom beginning with quit, also see call it quits.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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