Forms: 5 fyt, 6 fitte, 6–7 fytt(e, 6– fit. [First recorded c. 1440; possibly f. FIT sb.3, though as that word is known only from a solitary instance the derivation is very doubtful. The adj. is recorded a century earlier than the modern verb, and appears to be its source; the view that it is a pa. pple. of the vb. fitte to marshal troops (see FIT v.1 1) is tenable only on the assumption that the vb. had an unrecorded wider sense. To some extent the adj. appears to have been influenced in meaning by FEAT a.]
1. Well adapted or suited to the conditions or circumstances of the case, answering the purpose, proper or appropriate. Const. for (also, rarely, with ellipsis of for) or to with inf.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 163/1. Fyt, or mete, congruus.
1550. Bale, Image Both Ch., xxi. Hh v b. Nothinge fayre appeared these stones vnto this worlde, whan they were hewen, squared, and made fyt foundations, by the manyfolde persecutions of tyrauntes.
1594. H. Willobie, in Shaks. C. Praise, 16.
| Apply her still with dyvers thinges, | |
| (For giftes the wysest will deceave) | |
| Sometymes with gold, sometymes with ringes, | |
| No tyme nor fit occasion leave, | |
| Though coy at first she seeme and wielde, | |
| These toyes in tyme will make her yielde. |
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. ii. 17. Thou horson Mandrake, thou art fitter to be worne in my cap, then to wait at my heeles.
1599. H. Buttes, Dyets drie Dinner, M v. Tench … is fittest meate for labouring men.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., II. ii. 117.
| Prethee call Gardiner to me, my new Secretary. | |
| I find him a fit fellow. |
a. 1616. Beaum. & Fl., Bonduca, III. i.
| Steel us both with angers, | |
| And warlike executions fit thy viewing. |
1634. T. Johnson, Parey’s Chirurg., XXVI. xxxvi. (1678), 654. The time fittest for the use of Apophlegmatisms is the morning, the bodie beeing first purged.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, V. xxix. (1647), 281. A Spaniard, thinking to give the English Commissioners a shrewd gird, proposed the French Tongue as most fit, it being a language which the Spaniards were well skilled in.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. i. 865. But, Ralpho, this is no fit Place Nor time, to argue out the Case.
1710. Prideaux, Orig. Tithes, ii. 53. What is the fittest Portion of our Substance to be set apart in every Community, for the Support of God’s Worship, in the Maintenance of those who Minister in it?
1852. Miss Yonge, Cameos, I. ii. 14. He [Louis IV.] met a soldier of Rouen, whom he bribed to hide him in an island in the Seine, until he could find a fit opportunity of quitting Normandy.
1862. H. Spencer, First Princ., I. v. § 32 (1875), 119. Forms of religion, like forms of government, must be fit for those who live under them; and in the one case as in the other, that form which is fittest is that for which there is an instinctive preference.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 251, The Republic, II. I quite agree with you, he said; in my opinion those stories are not fit to be repeated.
b. absol.; esp. in survival of the fittest.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr., II. viii. 111. O ye kind Heavens, there is in every Nation and Community a fittest, a wisest, bravest, best; whom could we find and make King over us, all were in very truth well;—the best that God and Nature had permitted us to make it!
1867. H. Spencer, Biol., § 193, II. 53. Natural selection will favour the most upright-growing forms: individuals with structures that lift them above the rest, are the fittest for the conditions; and by the continual survival of the fittest, such structures must become established.
2. Befitting the person or the circumstances, agreeable to decorum, becoming, convenient, proper, right. Const. as above. Now only in predicative use, as It is fit that, etc., or to with inf.
c. 1440. York Myst., i. 65. O! what I am fetys and fayre and fygured full fytt!
1554–9. Songs & Ball. Ph. & Mary (1860), 4. In hyme voyd was nothyng that was nydfull and fytt.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well that ends Well, III. vi. 14. Cap. G. It were fit you knew him, least reposing too farre in his vertue which he hath not, he might at some great and trustie businesse, in a maine daunger, fayle you.
| Ibid. (1607), Cor. III. ii. 83. | |
| Say to them, | |
| Thou art their Souldier, and being bred in broyles, | |
| Hast not the soft way, which thou do’st confesse | |
| Were fit for thee to vse. |
1625. Bacon, Ess., Innovations (Arb.), 526. What is setled by Custome, though it be not good, yet at least it is fit.
1649. Bp. Hall, Cases Consc. (1650), 203. There are Theologicall verities fit for us to know and beleeve.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time (1766), I. 102. To return to Cromwell: while he was balancing in his mind what was fit for him to do, Gage, who had been a priest, came over from the West Indies, and gave him such an account of the feebleness as well as of the wealth of the Spaniards in those parts, as made him conclude that it would be both a great and an easy conquest to seize on their dominions.
1787. Bentham, Def. Usury, x. 94. It is one thing, to find reasons why it is fit a law should have been made; it is another to find the reasons why it was made: in other words, it is one thing to justify a law; it is another thing to account for its existence.
absol. 1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 765.
| Yet if the Croud be Judge of fit and Just, | |
| And Kings are onely Officers in Trust, | |
| Then this resuming Cov’nant was declar’d | |
| When Kings were made, or is for ever bar’d. |
1810. D. Stewart, Philos. Ess., II. I. i. 215. The idle generalities we meet with in other philosophers, about the ideas of the good, the fit, and the becoming.
b. In phrases, to see, think fit.
1611. Bible, 2 Macc. iv. 19. Three hundred drachmes of siluer to the sacrifice of Hercules, which euen the bearers therof thought fit not to bestow vpon the sacrifice.
a. 1687. Petty, Pol. Arith. (1690), 95. All these things may be done, if it be so thought fit by the Sovereign Power.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 43, 19 April, ¶ 3. To settle the nation at home, and carry on the war abroad, where and in what manner we see fit.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng., III. lxi. 322. The military being now, in appearance, as well as in reality, the sole power which prevailed in the nation, Cromwell thought fit to indulge a new fancy.
1815. Mrs. Sherwood, Susan Gray, 73. If God sees fit, I answered, that I should marry, in his due time he will provide me with a worthy husband.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 477, Phaedo. The Athenians have thought fit to condemn me, and accordingly I have thought it better and more right to remain here and undergo my sentence.
† c. Needing, requiring, or calling for (action of some kind). Const. to with passive inf. Obs.
1621. Elsing, Debates Ho. Lords (Camden), 54. Fytt to be so done, but the matter of Yelverton is of such ymportaunce as yt cannot be paste over.
1661–2. Marvell, Corr., xxxiii. Wks. 1872–5, II. 77. Wherein you shall find it [the Petition] fit to be alterd, he pleased to returne it corrected to us.
1756. Burke, Subl. & B., Wks. 1842, I. 53. Good sense and experience, acting together, find out what is fit to be done in every work of art.
† 3. Of a manufactured article: Of the right measure or size; made to fit, accurate in fit, well or close-fitting. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., 312/2. Fytte as a garment or other thynge.
1588. Shaks., Loves Labour’s Lost, IV. i. 50.
| And your waste Mistris, were as slender as my wit, | |
| One a these Maides girdles for your waste should be fit. |
1596. Harington, Metam. Ajax (1814), 8. To which you must have a hollow key with a worm fit to that screw.
1641. French, Distill., i. (1651), 6. The stopple of glasse ground very smooth and fit to the mouth of the Vessell.
1646. Crashaw, Poems, 118.
| Her Garments, that upon her sit | |
| As Garments should do close and fit; | |
| A well-cloth’d soul that’s not opprest | |
| Nor choak’t with what she should be drest. |
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 169. When it enters a square hole made fit to it in the hithermost Cheek, it may not twist about.
4. Possessing the necessary qualifications, properly qualified, competent, deserving. Const. as above; also † of. For phr. Fit to hold a candle to: see CANDLE 5 c.
1573. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 44. Having now at the lenght so fit a barer as I have, and seing matters fal out sins your departure as thai doo, I culd not but give you intelligens thereof.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., I. ii. 45.
| Now trust me, ’tis an office of great worth, | |
| And you an officer fit for the place. |
a. 1592. H. Smith, Wks. (1866), I. 433. There is a surfeit of wisdom which is the dangerous surfeit of all other, when a man, begins, like Paul, to be puffed up; which was Aaron’s and Miriam’s disease, when they murmured against Moses, because they thought themselves fitter to govern than he.
1607–12. Bacon, Ess., Youth & Age (Arb.), 258. Yonge Men are fitter to invent, then to iudge; fitter for execution, then for Councell.
1621. Lady M. Wroth, Urania, 421. May you see that none can run so far that shall not haue some time to returne, nor any how much soeuer condemn’d but may liue to be fit of commiseration and respect.
1670. Temple, Lett. to Earl Northumberland, Wks. 1731, II. 220. Having been so excellent a Son of a Family, you will shew your self the same in being now a Father of it; since nothing makes Men fit to command, like having learn’d to obey.
1722. De Foe, Relig. Courtsh., I. i. (1840), 22. Yo. Sist. I think my father is the fittest to give him his answer; he brought him first on, and I think he should put him off.
1771. Franklin, Autobiog., Wks. 1840, I. 89. I see this is a business I am not fit for.
1855. Browning, Fra Lippo, 107. Let ’s see what the urchin ’s fit for.
1868. Bain, Ment. & Mor. Sc. (1875), 624. Every man ir recommended by nature to his own care, being fitter to take care of himself than of another person.
5. In a suitable condition for doing or undergoing something; prepared, ready. Const. for, or to with inf.; otherwise Obs. exc. dial.
[c. 1534. trans. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden, 1846), I. 102. Brittaine seemed as it weare subject to spoyles and made feete for the invasion of hostilitie, partlie having the cheefe strengthe of soldiers wasted with tyrants, partlie beeing carried forthe to warre on forraine nations.]
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 113. The sayde Lewes was in all pointes fit for their handes.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., V. i. 85.
| The man that hath no musicke in himselfe, | |
| Nor is not moued with conford of sweet sounds, | |
| Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoyles. |
1678. Bunyan, Pilgr., I. (1847), 4. If I be not fit to go to Prison, I am not fit … to go to Judgement.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 610. Is the money fit?
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 212. Having prepared the Work fit for the Lathe.
1784. Cowper, Let., 10 Feb. When I am retiring to bed, am more fit for mental occupation, than at any other time.
1796. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xix. 300. They [pickles] will be fit to eat in two or three days.
1823. Crabb, Technol. Dict., Fit for service (Mil.) an epithet for healthy men capable of undergoing the fatigues of service.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, ‘Come, stir, make yourself fit.’
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. 345. Which makes the land perfectly clean and fit for the wheat crop.
b. Inclined, disposed. Now chiefly colloq. and dial. in stronger sense: Angry or troubled enough to (do something desperate or violent); exhausted enough, ‘ready’ to (sink to the ground, etc.).
1580. Baret, Alv., F 603. Fitte … inclined, disposed, accomodatus.
1585. Abp. Sandys, Serm. (1841), 308. When men are heavy laden with grief and sorrow, then are they fittest to call for and to receive refreshing.
1727. De Foe, A System of Magic, II. ii. (1840), 251. I am fit to hang myself because I can’t find it out.
1787. Burns, To W. Creech, 50.
| Now ev’ry sour-mou’d girnin’ blellum, | |
| And Calvin’s folk are fit to fell him. |
1821. Clare, The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems, II. 24, The Woodman. To look at things around he’s fit to freeze.
1848. J. H. Newman, Loss & Gain, 10–1. When he never comes to an end, or has one and the same prose every time you meet him, or keeps you standing till you are fit to sink.
1878. Cumberld. Gloss., ‘They war fit to feyt about her.’
quasi-adv.
1808. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1809), XII. 301. It made us laugh fit to kill ourselves two whole days.
c. of things: Likely, ‘enough’ (to). colloq.
1776. Bentham, Wks., I. 276. We hear now and then of a sort of Government fit to break one’s teeth, called an Ochlocracy.
6. In Racing or Athletics: In good ‘form’ or condition; hence colloq. in good health, perfectly well. Fit as a fiddle: see FIDDLE sb. 1 b.
1869. Bradwood, The O. V. H. (1870), 28. Vale House was not as ‘fit’ inside as modern conveniences might have made it.
1876. Ouida, Winter City, vi. 124. I like to think I am popular;… to hear the crowd on a race-day call out ‘ain’t she a rare ’un! my eye, ain’t she fit!’ just as if I were one of the mares.
1885. Manch. Exam., 17 Jan., 5/5. General Stewart with his men and camels, all apparently well and fit.
1891. Dixon, Dict. Idiom. Phr., s.v. Fit, ‘How are you?’—‘Very fit, thank you; never felt better.’
7. quasi-adv. = FITLY.
c. 1440. [See sense 2 above.]
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 200. This would haue accorded farre filter with your exposition.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., IV. iv. 167.
| And I was trim’d in Madam Iulias gowne | |
| Which serued me as fit, by all mens iudgements, | |
| As if the garment had bin made for me. |
1613. W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. i. Wks. 1772, II. 33.
| Him Limos kill’d, and hal’d with no small pain | |
| Unto the rock; fed well; then goes again: | |
| Which serv’d Marina fit, for had his food | |
| Fail’d him, her veins had fail’d their dearest blood. |
1630. M. Godwyn, trans. Bp. Hereford’s Ann. Engl., 153. The mention of Poole falls fit with our time, hee being this yeare on the two and twentieth of December by Pope Pavl the Fourth chosen into the Colledge of Cardinalls.
1657. W. Rand, trans. Gassendi’s Life of Peiresc, II. 75. One cup would go fit into the other.
8. Comb., as + fit-forked adj.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. IV. Handy-crafts, 214.
| Upon the top of their fit-forkéd stems, | |
| They lay a-crosse bare Oaken boughs for beams. |
