I. suit 1 S2 W3 /suːt, sjuːt $ suːt/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: siute 'act of following, group of helpers' , from Vulgar Latin sequita , from sequere ; ⇨ ↑ sue ]
1 . CLOTHES a set of clothes made of the same material, usually including a jacket with trousers or a skirt:
a grey lightweight suit
a business suit
a tweed suit
She was wearing a black trouser suit.
⇨ ↑ morning suit
2 . bathing/jogging etc suit a piece of clothing or a set of clothes used for swimming, running etc ⇨ ↑ boiler suit , ↑ shell suit , ↑ sweat suit , ↑ tracksuit , ↑ wet suit
3 . LAW a problem or complaint that a person or company brings to a court of law to be settled SYN lawsuit :
Johnson has filed suit against her.
a civil suit
4 . OFFICE WORKER informal a man, especially a manager, who works in an office and who has to wear a suit when he is at work:
I bought myself a mobile phone and joined the other suits on the train to the City.
5 . CARDS one of the four types of cards in a set of playing cards
6 . sb’s strong suit something that you are good at:
Sympathy is not Jack’s strong suit.
⇨ in your birthday suit at ↑ birthday (3), ⇨ follow suit at ↑ follow (14)
II. suit 2 S3 W3 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . to be acceptable, suitable, or ↑ convenient for a particular person or in a particular situation:
Whatever your reason for borrowing, we have the loan that suits your needs.
There’s a range of restaurants to suit all tastes.
There are countryside walks to suit everyone.
We have gifts to suit every pocket (=of all prices) .
Either steak or chicken would suit me fine.
The climate there will suit you down to the ground (=suit you very well) .
suit something to something
She had the ability to suit her performances to the audience.
2 . [not in passive] clothes, colours etc that suit you make you look attractive:
That coat really suits Paul.
Red suits you.
Jill’s new hairstyle doesn’t really suit her.
3 . best/well/ideally/perfectly etc suited to/for something to have the right qualities to do something:
The activity holidays on offer are really best suited to groups.
land well suited for agriculture
the candidate most ideally suited to doing the job
4 . suit yourself spoken used to tell someone they can do whatever they want to, even though it annoys you or you think they are not doing the right thing:
‘Mind if I sit here?’ he said gently. ‘Suit yourself.’
5 . suit sb’s book British English informal to fit well into someone’s plans
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ nouns
▪ suit somebody's needs/requirements
The building has been adapted to suit the needs of older people.
▪ suit somebody's taste
Users can customize the home page to suit their personal tastes.
▪ suit somebody's purpose
It suited her purpose to let him believe the lie.
▪ suit somebody's mood
You can adjust the colour of the lighting to suit your mood.
▪ suit somebody's style
Choose a racket that suits your style of play.
▪ suit the circumstances
When writing emails, most people vary the style to suit the circumstances.
▪ suit the occasion
I thought a simple black dress would suit the occasion.
▪ suit somebody's pocket (=cost as much as they feel they can pay)
The choice is wide, with something to suit everyone's pocket.
■ adverbs
▪ suit somebody well
Our new house suits us very well.
▪ suit somebody perfectly
The arrangement suited me perfectly.
▪ suit somebody fine informal:
Either Monday or Tuesday would suit me fine for our meeting.
▪ suit somebody down to the ground informal (=suit someone very well)
Country life suits you down to the ground.