subs. (common).—A success; e.g., TO MAKE A HIT = to score; to profit; to excel.
1602. MARSTON, Antonio and Mellida, Induction. When use hath taught me action to HIT the right point of a ladie’s part.
1700. CONGREVE, The Way of the World, ii., 5. A HIT, a HIT! a palpable HIT! I confess it.
1821. P. EGAN, Tom and Jerry, bk. I., ch. i. Teach me to make a HIT of so Kean a quality that it may not only ‘tell,’ but be long remembered in the metropolis.
1822–36. J. WILSON, Noctes Ambrosianæ, in Wks. II., 210. Mr. Peel seems to have MADE A HIT in the chief character of Shiel’s play, The Apostate.
1836. HOOD, Miss Kilmansegg and Her Precious Leg, in Poems, v., p. 197 [ed. 1846].
| Nor yet did the heiress herself omit | |
| The arts that help TO MAKE A HIT. |
1870. Figaro, 10 June. TO MAKE A GREAT HIT is, after all, more a matter of chance than merit.
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 3 July. Madam Melba MAKES AN ESPECIAL HIT in the valse from Roméo et Juliette.
1889. Referee, 6 Jan. Quite A HIT HAS BEEN MADE by the clever juvenile, La Petite Bertoto.
Adj. (Old Bailey).—Convicted.
HARD-HIT, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Sore beset; HARD-UP (q.v.). Also deep in love (or grief, or anger).
1890. Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette, 7 Nov. It was pretty generally known that he had been HARD HIT during the season.
Verb (American).—To arrive at; to light upon.
1888. Detroit Free Press, Oct. Professor Rose, who HIT this town last spring, is around calling us a fugitive from justice.
TO HIT IT, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To attain an object; to light on a device; to guess a secret.
1594. SHAKESPEARE, Love’s Labour’s Lost, iv. 1.
| Ros. Thou canst not HIT IT, HIT IT, HIT IT, (Singing.) | |
| Thou can’st not HIT IT, my good man. | |
| Ibid. (1596) Merry Wives of Windsor, iii. 2. | |
| I can never HIT one’s name. |
1773. GOLDSMITH, She Stoops to Conquer, iv., 1. Ecod, I have HIT IT. It’s here. Your hands. Yours, and yours, my poor Sulky. My boots there, ho! Meet me two hours hence at the bottom of the garden.
1880. A. TROLLOPE, The Duke’s Children, ch. lii. He dressed himself in ten minutes, and joined the party as they had finished their fish. ‘I am awfully sorry,’ he said, rushing up to his father, ‘but I thought that I should just HIT IT.’
TO HIT OFF, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To agree together; to fit; to describe with accuracy and precision.
1857. A. TROLLOPE, Barchester Towers, ch. xxxiv. It is not always the case that the master, or warden, or provost, or principal can HIT IT OFF exactly WITH his tutor. A tutor is by no means indisposed to have a will of his own. Ibid. (1880), The Duke’s Children, ch. xxxvi. ‘One gentleman with another, you mean?’ ‘Put it so. It don’t quite HIT IT OFF, but put it so.’
1886. J. S. WINTER, Army Society, ‘Sidelight,’ ch. xiv. ‘Hey!’ said Orford. ‘Didn’t you and he HIT IT OFF?’
1889. Daily News, 22 Oct., p. 5. The nations that quarrel are the nations that do not HIT IT OFF ON some point of feeling or taste.
TO HIT THE FLAT, verb. phr. (American cowboy).—To go out on the prairie.
TO HIT THE PIPE, verb. phr. (American).—To smoke opium.
TO HIT ONE WHERE HE LIVES, verb. phr. (American).—To touch in a tender part; to hurt the feelings; TO TOUCH ON THE RAW (q.v.).
HIT (or STRUCK) WITH, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Taken; enamoured; prepossessed. Also, HIT UP WITH.
1891. Tales from Town Topics, ‘Count Candawles,’ p. 28. She is vety amusing, but the Count cannot be really HIT WITH such a little mountebank.
d. 1529. SKELTON, The Bowge of Courte. How oft he HIT Jonet ON THE TAYLE.
HIT IN THE TEETH, verb. phr. (old).—To reproach; to taunt; to fling in one’s face.
1663. KILLIGREW, The Parson’s Wedding, ii., 6 (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv., 431). They are always HITTING ME IN THE TEETH with a man of my coat.
