[f. FIT v. + -ING1.]
1. The action of the vb. FIT in various senses. Also gerundially with omission of in. Also with advs.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 301. It was necessary there should be also a relying, a resting, a casting himselfe vpon Christ, a trusting to him, an expecting saluation by his meanes, a fitting of this generall truth touching Christ to his owne particular for the discharge of his soule in the sight of God.
1719. The Free-Thinker. No. 154, 11 Sept., ¶ 6. I Laugh, Sing, and Dress, and am fitting out for one of the most compleat Beaus in Christendom.
1746–7. Hervey, Medit. (1818), 69. When the last sickness seized their frame, and the inevitable change advanced; when they saw the fatal arrow fitting to the strings, saw the deadly archer aiming at their heart, and felt the envenomed shaft fastened in their vitals—good God! what fearfulness came upon them!
1829. Marryat, F. Mildmay, xxiii. While the ship was fitting.
1862. Dana, Man. Geol., 583. In the final fitting up of the earth with life there was still a reference to him [Man].
1886. Ruskin, Præterita, I. vi. 179. The perfect fitting of windows, on which one-half the comfort of a travelling carriage really depends.
2. concr. Anything used in fitting. Usually in pl.: Fixtures, apparatus, furniture. Also fitting-up.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 77. Bladders filled with a quantity of this gas … and the neck, or fitting-up of its end, made capable of being closed or opened.
1860. Hawthorne, Marble Faun (1883), xxxi. 321. Without visiting Italy, one can have no idea of the beauty and magnificence that are produced by these fittings-up of polished marble.
1864. Bp. of Lincoln, Charge, 7. 42 grants for fittings and books.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. viii. 207. All the wooden appendages, all the roofs, floors, and fittings of the main building, were burned.
3. Mech. Engin. (see quot. 1888).
1878. W. Allan, Rose & Thistle, ‘Stand to Your Work,’ 131.
| What though your labour is merely stone-breaking, | |
| Turning, or fitting, or wielding the spade, | |
| Add to your laurels of manhood by making | |
| An honest day’s work as the soul of your trade. |
1888. Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Eng., Fitting, that section of mechanical engineering devoted to the bringing together and adjusting of the different portions of engines, machines, &c.
4. Soap-making. See FIT v. 10.
1860. Ure’s Dict. Arts (ed. 5) III. 713.
1885. W. L. Carpenter, Manuf. Soap, vi. 172. The finishing operation for yellow soaps is termed ‘fitting’ in England, and liquidation in France, and requires considerable judgment on the part of the operator.
5. attrib., as fitting(-out)-shop.
1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xii. I went to a fitting-out shop.
1888. Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Eng., Fitting-Shop, the shop in which the operations of fitting are carried on.
