fit

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“
At length she brings up enormous quantities of wind; after a time she bursts into a violent flood of tears, and then gradually comes to herself As soon as the fit is at an end she generally passes enormous quantities of colourless limpid urine.

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Definitions (95)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (28)

  1. transitive verb To be the proper size and shape for: These shoes fit me.
  2. transitive verb To cause to be the proper size and shape: The tailor fitted the trousers by shortening them.
  3. transitive verb To measure for proper size: She fitted me for a new jacket.
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Examples (50)

  • The feel after the fit is as if one had got rid of one's body for good and all The gods go with you!—Address to Pisa Ever yours P.S. Since I came back I feel better, though I stayed out too late for this malaria season, under the thin crescent of a very young moon, and got off my horse to walk in an avenue with a Signora for an hour. —  Life of Lord Byron, With His Letters And Journals, Vol. 5
  • Whether a conniption fit, that is, a fit of rage or hysteria, is "related" to nip is anybody's guess. —  OUPblog
  • The wrinkles, the color and the fit are all wrong. —  Bit By the Beauty Bug
  • Alison Mitchell, European marketing manager at 505 Games, added: "The games market is becoming more and more mainstream with gaming resonating with families so the fit is the perfect targeting for this demographic."
  • When you place it alongside the Red Cross 'debriefing of the torture victims, the fit is almost perfect. —  Buck Naked Politics
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

proper ·  suitable ·  feel ·  touch ·  mood ·  burst ·  kind ·  outburst ·  long

Used in the same contextWord Family

fit:   fitting ·  fittest ·  fitted ·  fits
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (11)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English fitten, to be suitable, marshal troops.
  2. Middle English, hardship, probably from Old English fitt, struggle.
  3. Middle English, from Old English.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (8)

  1. from Middle English fit, fyt, fytt, a struggle, from Anglo-Saxon fitt, a struggle, fight; cf. the verbal noun fitung, a fighting; fettian (in preterit plural fettodon), dispute, contend (?). The Anglo-Saxon forms occur but rarely (hardly more than once each). Connections unknown; the nearest word in sense and form is fight, Anglo-Saxon feoht; but this cannot be related.
  2. Early modern English also fitte; English dial. also fet; from Middle English fit, fitte, fyt, fytte, meet; origin uncertain: see the verb.
  3. Early modern English also fitte; from Middle English fitten (rare), fit, become, arrange or set in array, = Old Dutch vitten, fit, suit, adapt. The early records are scant, and other connections are doubtful. The adjective may be ult. the contr. past participle of the verb (cf. fat, in part similarly contracted). The verb is by some connected with Icelandic fitja, knit, web, = Norwegian fitja, draw (a lace) together in a noose, = Swedish dial. fittja, bind together, from Icelandic fit, the webbed foot of water-fowl, the web or skin of the feet of animals, the edge or hem of a sock, etc. Connection with feat (Middle English fete, fetise, neat, well-made) is improbable; but cf. fit = feat.
  4. Still used occasionally, as an archaism, and spelled fitt, fitte, fytte; Middle English fit, fyt, fytt, fytte, a song, ballad, or story, a division of a song, ballad, or story, from Anglo-Saxon fitt, a song. The Anglo-Saxon word is rare, and has no known connections. Not from Icelandic fet, a pace, step, foot (as a measure of length); Icelandic fet does not mean a metrical foot, and the English fit is not a metrical foot.
  5. Scots, a variant of foot; prob. due to Scandinavian influence; cf. Icelandic fet, a step, pace, foot (a measure of length), = Danish fjed = Swedish fjät, track, trace, footstep; Icelandic fit, the webbed foot of water-birds: see foot.
  6. from fit, n. Cf. foot, v., and fitter.
  7. A dial. variant of feat, in same sense.
  8. A modern dial. preterit and past participle of fight (like lit of light), after the supposed analogy of bit, bit or bitten, writ (obsolete), writ (obsolete) or written, etc., preterit and past participle of bite, write, etc.
 

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