suit

[soot] /sut/
noun
1.
a set of clothing, armor, or the like, intended for wear together.
2.
a set of men's garments of the same color and fabric, consisting of trousers, a jacket, and sometimes a vest.
3.
a similarly matched set consisting of a skirt and jacket, and sometimes a topcoat or blouse, worn by women.
4.
any costume worn for some special activity:
a running suit.
5.
Slang. a business executive.
6.
Law. the act, the process, or an instance of suing in a court of law; legal prosecution; lawsuit.
7.
Cards.
  1. one of the four sets or classes (spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs) into which a common deck of playing cards is divided.
  2. the aggregate of cards belonging to one of these sets held in a player's hand at one time:
    Spades were his long suit.
  3. one of various sets or classes into which less common decks of cards are divided, as lances, hammers, etc., found in certain decks formerly used or used in fortune telling.
8.
suite (defs 1–3, 5).
9.
the wooing or courting of a woman:
She rejected his suit.
10.
the act of making a petition or an appeal.
11.
a petition, as to a person of rank or station.
12.
Also called set. Nautical. a complete group of sails for a boat.
13.
one of the seven classes into which a standard set of 28 dominoes may be divided by matching the numbers on half the face of each: a three suit contains the 3-blank, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, and 3-6. Since each such suit contains one of each of the other possible suits, only one complete suit is available per game.
verb (used with object)
14.
to make appropriate, adapt, or accommodate, as one thing to another:
to suit the punishment to the crime.
15.
to be appropriate or becoming to:
Blue suits you very well.
16.
to be or prove satisfactory, agreeable, or acceptable to; satisfy or please:
The arrangements suit me.
17.
to provide with a suit, as of clothing or armor; clothe; array.
verb (used without object)
18.
to be appropriate or suitable; accord.
19.
to be satisfactory, agreeable, or acceptable.
Verb phrases
20.
suit up, to dress in a uniform or special suit.
Idioms
21.
follow suit,
  1. Cards. to play a card of the same suit as that led.
  2. to follow the example of another:
    The girl jumped over the fence, and her playmates followed suit.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English siute, sute, suite (noun) < Anglo-French, Old French, akin to sivre to follow. See sue, suite
Related forms
suitlike, adjective
countersuit, noun
resuit, noun, verb (used with object)
undersuit, noun
undersuit, verb (used with object)
Can be confused
suit, suite.
British Dictionary definitions for suit up

suit

/suːt; sjuːt/
noun
1.
any set of clothes of the same or similar material designed to be worn together, now usually (for men) a jacket with matching trousers or (for women) a jacket with matching or contrasting skirt or trousers
2.
(in combination) any outfit worn for a specific purpose: a spacesuit
3.
any set of items, such as the full complement of sails of a vessel or parts of personal armour
4.
any of the four sets of 13 cards in a pack of playing cards, being spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. The cards in each suit are two to ten, jack, queen, and king in the usual order of ascending value, with ace counting as either the highest or lowest according to the game
5.
a civil proceeding; lawsuit
6.
the act or process of suing in a court of law
7.
a petition or appeal made to a person of superior rank or status or the act of making such a petition
8.
(slang) a business executive or white-collar manager
9.
a man's courting of a woman
10.
follow suit
  1. to play a card of the same suit as the card played immediately before it
  2. to act in the same way as someone else
11.
strong suit, strongest suit, something that one excels in
verb
12.
to make or be fit or appropriate for: that dress suits you
13.
to meet the requirements or standards (of)
14.
to be agreeable or acceptable to (someone)
15.
suit oneself, to pursue one's own intentions without reference to others
Derived Forms
suitlike, adjective
Word Origin
C13: from Old French sieute set of things, from sivre to follow; compare sue
Word Origin and History for suit up

suit

n.

c.1300, "attendance at court, the company attending," also their livery or uniform, via Anglo-French siwte, from Old French suitte "attendance, act of following," from Gallo-Romance *sequita, fem. of *sequitus, from Latin secutus, past participle of sequi "to attend, follow" (see sequel).

Meaning "application to a court for justice, lawsuit" is first recorded early 15c. Meaning "set of clothes to be worn together" is attested from early 15c., from notion of the livery or uniform of court attendants. As a derisive term for "businessman," it dates from 1979. Meaning "set of playing cards bearing the same symbol" is first attested 1520s, also from the notion of livery. Hence, to follow suit (1670s), which is from card playing.

v.

"be agreeable or convenient," 1570s, from suit (n.), probably from the notion of "provide with a set of new clothes."

Slang definitions & phrases for suit up

suit

noun

A serious business or professional person: some slick suit comes along and sets him free/ turned as the suits from the Housing Authority approached

Related Terms

birthday suit, monkey suit, zoot suit

[1979+; fr the wearing of a suit, shirt, tie, etc, at work]


Idioms and Phrases with suit up

suit up

Put on clothes for a particular activity, as in Come on, fellows, it's time to suit up for the hockey game. [ Mid-1900s ]

suit

also see:
Encyclopedia Article for suit up

suit

in dress design, matching set of clothes consisting, for example, of a coat, vest, and trousers. The shift in Western masculine attire from the doublet (q.v.) to the present-day suit began in 1666 at the courts of Louis XIV of France and Charles II of England. The reformed style consisted of a long coat with wide, turned-back sleeves and a row of buttons down the front, some of which were left unbuttoned to reveal a vest (later called a waistcoat in England), an undergarment almost identical to the coat

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