adv. Forms: 4–6 quit, quyte, 5 Sc. quhyt, 5–6 quyt, 6 quyght, 6–7 quight, 4– quite. [f. quite QUIT a.]
I. Completely, wholly, altogether, entirely; to the fullest extent or degree.
1. With verbs, esp. in the pa. pple., denoting the thorough completion of the action. † Formerly also in phr. quite and clean: see CLEAN adv. 6.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 45. Lyndessie he destroied quite alle bidene.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, iv. (James), 288. In þe entent Þat þai suld have bene quyt schent.
a. 1529. Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 706. Comfort had he none For she was quyte gone.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 273 b. All that was there begonne, was quite dasshed.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. v. 41. His foule sore … she reduced, but himselfe destroyed quight.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 204. For now was the Greeke Emperour … quite driuen out of the lesser ASIA.
1630. Prynne, Anti-Armin., 133. That I may quite vnuaile the hidden mysteries of this vniuersal grace.
1700. S. L., trans. Fryke’s Voy. E. Ind. 57. We found our selves forced to Intrench, lest they should have routed us quite.
1785. Reid, Wks. (1863), I. 67/2. My distemper is almost quite gone.
1859. M. Arnold, Southern Night, in Poems (1869), I. 218. Thy memory, thy pain, to-night,… Possess me quite.
1880. Jefferies, Gt. Estate, 59. Haws … which often quite cover the hawthorn bushes.
2. With prepositional or adverbial phrases.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxiv. (Pelagia), 124. It … flaw vpe quyt in þe ayre.
c. 1440. Generydes, 3048. It ranne down quyte thorough the harnes.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, X. lxxix. He smote hym doune quyte from his hors.
1545. Brinklow, Compl., 28 b. He bracke it quyte in pecys.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., I. (1895), 112. Thai is … quyte out of remembraunce.
a. 1600. Hooker, Serm. Sorrow & Fear, Wks. 1888, III. 649. The sword that pierceth their souls quite through.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 43. I have done it against the streame of my resolution quite.
c. 1710. Celia Fiennes, Diary (1888), 91. Severall nitches for statues quite round it.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xviii. Dryden’s and Rowe’s manner … are quite out of fashion. Ibid., xxi. I had thrown all their power quite away.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. ii. 3. Here have I sat … Quite by myself.
1870. E. Peacock, Ralf Skirl., I. 153. The room was not quite without ornament.
3. With adjs., and advbs. or sbs. derived from these, denoting that they are to be understood in their fullest or most absolute sense.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xl. (Ninian), 1336. Blynd I ame quhyt & fre.
1597. Bp. Hall, Sat., I. iii. 17. Threats, That his poore hearers hayre quite vpright sets.
1604. Bp. Andrewes, Wks., II. 142. Able to quicken our consideration, if it be not quite dead.
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 317. One regardless quite Of mortal things.
1751. Franklin, Lett., Wks. 1840, V. 263. By quite dry air, I mean the dryest we have.
1765. A. Dickson, Treat. Agric. (ed. 2), 196. The mold-board in the common ploughs is … almost quite straight.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xxiv. 170. I spent that day quite alone upon the Mer de Glace.
1879. R. K. Douglas, Confucianism, iv. 95. A man should be quite certain what he knows and what he does not know.
b. Preceded by def. or indef. article, chiefly with adjs. expressing difference. † A quite other = quite another; † the quite contrary (freq. in 17th c.) = quite the contrary (see next).
1594. Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, 116. In the Spaniards, we discerne the quite contrarie.
1618. Bolton, Florus, II. vi. (1636), 108. Livius marcht with ensignes spred, into the quite opposit quarter.
1661. Cressy, Refl. Oathes Suprem. & Alleg., 51–2. It speaks a quite other language.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., IV. xiii. (1848), 249. Upon a quite contrary account than they intended.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 493, ¶ 1. In proportion to his deserving the quite contrary.
a. 1774. Goldsm., Hist. Greece, I. 251. Into things of a quite opposite nature.
1875. Ruskin, Fors Clav., V. lx. 348. When the luxuries are produced, it becomes a quite separate question who is to have them.
c. Preceding the article, chiefly as in prec., and esp. in phr. quite another (thing, question, etc.); occas. with intervening prep. (cf. 2).
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 125. for the Impression of the Sound, it is quite another Thing.
1657. W. Rand, trans. Gassendi’s Life Peiresc, II. 262. Trees quite of another kind.
1664. Pepys, Diary, III. 91. The comet … is gone quite to a new place in the heavens.
1679. Penn, Addr. Prot., II. 146. That’s quite another thing than being certain.
1716. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., II. 401. Which was quite the reverse in those two … Prelates.
1751. R. Paltock, P. Wilkins (1883), II. 194. That I did first was quite of a different colour from the leaf.
1810. Bentham, Offic. Apt. Maximized, Def. Econ. (1830), 52. Any such accidental display is quite another business.
1845. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 16. For quite another reason.
II. Actually, really, truly, positively (implying that the case or circumstances are such as fully justify the use of the word or phrase thus qualified).
4. With adjs. or pa. pples., and derived advbs.
1742. Richardson, Pamela (1811), III. 311. They tell me she’s … quite smart and handsome.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XIII. v. The widow, quite charmed with her new lodger, invited him … to breakfast.
1805. Emily Clark, Banks of Douro, I. 248. She felt … so perturbed … that she was quite ill and restless.
1834. Beckford, Italy, I. 326. The gallery immediately before its entrance appeared quite gay.
1848. Herschel, Ess. (1857), 342. A ship sailing northwards passes quite suddenly from cold into hot water.
1871. Ruskin, Fors Clav., iii. 17. You would observe … the quite Anglican character of Richard.
b. Preceding the indef. article.
1756. Toldervy, Hist. 2 Orphans, III. 49. It is quite a pleasing, rural,… plentiful retirement.
1799. Southey, Lett. (1856), I. 84. Quite a comfortable dwelling.
1843. Mill, Logic (1865), I. 403. Up to quite a recent period.
1860. Keble, Lett. (1870), 184. They are quite a large party in Edinburgh.
1884. Manch. Exam., 3 May, 6/1. At quite an early hour.
c. Coupled with too.
1763. C. Johnston, Reverie, I. 137. Your offer is quite too low.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, VII. i. (1893), 269. Going to Mr. Harrel’s again would have been quite too dismal.
1843. J. Martineau, Chr. Life (1867), 14. Presenting the Creator to us in a relation quite too mean.
1882. H. C. Merivale, Faucit of B., III. II. xii. 47. I quite too awfully near put my foot in it!
d. With superlatives.
1883. M. Schuyler, in Harper’s Mag., Nov., 882/1. The auditorium is quite the largest in the world.
5. With substantives preceded by a, or in pl.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LXIX. iv. To my kynn a stranger quite, Quite an alien am I grown.
1737. Pope, Hor. Sat., II. vi. 146. Something … quite a scandal not to learn. Ibid., Ep. I. i. 50. Far from a Lynx, and not a Giant quite.
1762. Lloyd, Poet. Wks. (1774), I. 183. It’s quite a journey to come here.
1806–7. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life, I. 291. That must have been quite a scene.
1840. Thackeray, Catherine, i. There’s many a girl in the village that at my age is quite chits.
1893. T. F. Tout, Edw. I., iv. 79. The third child of the second marriage was a daughter named Eleanor, born in 1306, who died when quite a child.
b. With sbs. preceded by the (also with adj.).
1762. Goldsm., Cit. W., lxxvii. It [silk] is at once rich, tasty, and quite the thing.
1799. Coleridge, Lett. (1895), 277. Pipes are quite the rage.
1803. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls., VII. 20. Quite the tippy for the boxes.
1865. Sat. Rev., July, 14. The Chancellor is not quite the right man for his … place.
1888. [Catherine Barter], Poor Nellie, 114. It was quite the thing to be in love.
6. With verbs (= ‘to go as far as,’ ‘to do as much as’).
1770. Eliz. Carter, Lett., to Mrs. Montagu, II. 67. I quite longed for you to share my admiration of it.
1819. [E. S. Barrett], Metropolis, I. 213. She [Lady Mildew] quite haunts us. Ibid., 249. A certain upstart commoner … quite made love to me.
1848. J. H. Newman, Loss & Gain, 192. A great personage … quite scoffed at their persisting to hold it.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xiii. (1878), 285. You can’t quite believe there is a God at all.
7. With prep. phrases or advbs.
1846. Landor, Wks., II. 16. There are minerals and instruments quite at hand.
Quite, obs. form of QUIT a. and v.; WHITE.
