I. ˈkwit, usu -id.+V adjective
Etymology: Middle English quit, quite, from Old French quite
1. : released from obligation, charge, or penalty : absolved, acquitted ; especially : free
quit of unnecessary fears
2. obsolete : destitute , bereft — used with of
3. obsolete : quits
II. verb
( quit also quitted ; quit also quitted ; quitting ; quits )
Etymology: Middle English quiten, quitten, from Middle French quiter, quitter, from Old French, from quite free of, released, calm, from Latin quietus calm, quiet — more at quiet
transitive verb
1. : to set free : relieve , release
quit me of fear
2. : to pay up : discharge
may fairly quit the debt — William Cowper
3. : conduct , acquit
youths quit themselves like men
4. : to leave or leave off from: as
a. : to depart from or out of
as soon as she quitted the room he returned to it — W.H.Hudson †1922
quitted Cambridge … before being formally ejected — Douglas Bush
b. : to leave especially peremptorily the company of
the hero quitted him with some contempt — George Meredith
c. : to give over (as a way of thought, acting, or living) : relinquish , abandon , forsake
a tribe that quitted the plains for the mountains
d. : to terminate (as an action, activity, or employment) especially with finality : leave
quit a job
intransitive verb
1. : to leave off or cease normal, expected, or necessary action
the engine coughed, sputtered, and quit
2. : to give up employment : stop working : leave
a worker quitting because of poor pay
3. : to give up : admit defeat : stop struggling, fighting, or contending
despairing creatures who have quit on life — Time
Synonyms: see behave , go , stop
III. noun
( -s )
1. : the act or action of quitting
a factory with many quits per year among its workers
2. : tendency to quit
a fighter with little quit in him
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: probably imitative
: any of various small passerine birds chiefly of the West Indies (as banana quit and grassquit)