Etymology From Middle English sute, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suite and Old French sieute, siute (modern suite), originally a participle adjective from Vulgar Latin *sequita (for secūta), from Latin sequi (“to follow”), because the component garments "follow each other", i.e. are worn together. See also the doublet suite. Cognate with Italian seguire and Spanish seguir. Related to sue and segue.
Business, Clothing, Fashion, Lifestyle, Manufacturing, Textiles A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.
A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
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Nick hired a navy-blue suit for the wedding.
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Broadly A garment or set of garments suitable and/or required for a given task or activity: space suit, boiler suit, protective suit, swimsuit.
Derogatory, Metonymically, Slang A person who wears matching jacket and trousers, especially a boss or a supervisor.
Be sure to keep your nose to the grindstone today; the suits are making a "surprise" visit to this department.
You had an army / Of suits behind you1996, Ani DiFranco, “Napoleon”, in Dilate:
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Two smartly dressed suits walked up to the doctor. "Are you alright Dr. La Perouse?"2016, A.K. Brown, Jumpstart (Champagne Universe Series: Book 1), page 29:
Suits didn't wear suits any more—they wore Tibetan prayer beads coiled around their wrists. But they slithered in a suitlike way.2020, Emily Segal, Mercury Retrograde, New York: Deluge Books, →ISBN:
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A full set of armour.
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Law The attempt to gain an end by legal process; a process instituted in a court of law for the recovery of a right or claim; a lawsuit.
If you take my advice, you'll file a suit against him immediately.
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Petition, request, entreaty.
Tam[burlaine]. Are you the wittie King of Perſea? Myc[etes]. I marrie am I: haue you any ſute to me? Tam[burlaine]. I woulde intreate you to ſpeake but three wiſe wordes.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iv:
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Obsolete The act of following or pursuing; pursuit, chase.
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Pursuit of a love-interest; wooing, courtship.
Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend, Till this funereal web my labors end.1725–1726, Homer, “(please specify the book or chapter of the Odyssey)”, in [William Broome, Elijah Fenton, Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
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Obsolete The act of suing; the pursuit of a particular object or goal.
Thenceforth the suitt of earthly conquest shonne.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 60:
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The full set of sails required for a ship.
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Card games, Games Each of the sets of a pack of cards distinguished by colour and/or specific emblems, such as the spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs of traditional Anglo, Hispanic, and French playing cards.
To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort Her mingled suits and sequences.1785, William Cowper, The Task:
Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again.
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Archaic A company of attendants or followers; a retinue.
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Archaic A group of similar or related objects or items considered as a whole; a suite (of rooms etc.)
"You must wear these to-day, my dear child," said Lord Norbourne, as, entering the dressing-room of his daughter, he laid a suit of pearls on her table1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 212–213:
Etymology From Middle English sute, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suite and Old French sieute, siute (modern suite), originally a participle adjective from Vulgar Latin *sequita (for secūta), from Latin sequi (“to follow”), because the component garments "follow each other", i.e. are worn together. See also the doublet suite. Cognate with Italian seguire and Spanish seguir. Related to sue and segue.
1
To make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit.
but let your owne Diſcretion be your Tutor: Sute the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action,c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 266, column 2:
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Said of clothes To be suitable or apt for one's image.
The nickname "Bullet" suits her, since she is a fast runner.
Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well.1700, [John] Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
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c. 1700, Matthew Prior, epistle to Dr. Sherlock Raise her notes to that sublime degree / Which suits song of piety and thee.
“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 0029:
I'm going where the sun keeps shinin' […] / Going where the weather suits my clothes1968, Fred Neil, “Everybody's Talkin'”, performed by Harry Nilsson:
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To dress; to clothe.
Most commonly used in the passive form
So went he suited to his watery tomb.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
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To please; to make content; to fit someone's (or one's own) taste.
will build to suit [on for-sale signs marking vacant lots]
He is well suited with his place.
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My new job suits me, as I work fewer hours and don't have to commute so much.
When's it suit you for me to call?
This arrangement suited everybody - right up until the moment that it suddenly didn't, when unions were able to point a loaded gun at management's head in any disputes.2022 November 16, Nigel Harris, “Endless news... little context”, in RAIL, number 970, page 3:
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To agree; to be fitted; to correspond (usually followed by to, archaically also followed by with).
The place itself was suiting to his care.1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
Give me not an office / That suits with me so ill.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 34: