01 n. The act of following or pursuing, as game; pursuit.
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1.
The act of following or pursuing, as game; pursuit.[Obs.]
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2.
The act of suing; the process by which one endeavors to gain an end or an object; an attempt to attain a certain result; pursuit; endeavor.“Thenceforth the suit of earthly conquest shone.” — Spenser.
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3.
The act of wooing in love; the solicitation of a woman in marriage; courtship.“Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend, Till this funereal web my labors end.” — Pope.
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4.
The attempt to gain an end by legal process; an action or process for the recovery of a right or claim; legal application to a court for justice; prosecution of right before any tribunal; as, a civil suit; a criminal suit; a suit in chancery.(Law)“I arrest thee at the suit of Count Orsino.” — Shak.“In England the several suits, or remedial instruments of justice, are distinguished into three kinds -- actions personal, real, and mixed.” — Blackstone.
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5.
That which follows as a retinue; a company of attendants or followers; the assembly of persons who attend upon a prince, magistrate, or other person of distinction; -- often written suite, and pronounced swēt.
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6.
Things that follow in a series or succession; the individual objects, collectively considered, which constitute a series, as of rooms, buildings, compositions, etc.; -- often written suite, and pronounced swēt.
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7.
A number of things used together, and generally necessary to be united in order to answer their purpose; a number of things ordinarily classed or used together; a set; as, a suit of curtains; a suit of armor; a suit of clothes; a three-piece business suit.
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8.
One of the four sets of cards which constitute a pack; -- each set consisting of thirteen cards bearing a particular emblem, as hearts, spades, clubs, or diamonds; also, the members of each such suit held by a player in certain games, such as bridge; as, hearts were her long suit.(Playing Cards)“To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort Her mingled suits and sequences.” — Cowper.
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9.
Regular order; succession.[Obs.]“Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again.” — Bacon.
Phrases & compounds
Out of suits —
having no correspondence.
Suit and service —
the duty of feudatories to attend the courts of their lords or superiors in time of peace, and in war to follow them and do military service; -- called also suit service.
Suit broker —
one who made a trade of obtaining the suits of petitioners at court.
Suit court —
the court in which tenants owe attendance to their lord.
Suit covenant —
a covenant to sue at a certain court.
Suit custom —
a service which is owed from time immemorial.
Suit service —
See Suit and service, above.
To bring suit —
To bring secta, followers or witnesses, to prove the plaintiff's demand.
Long suit —
the suit{8} of which a player has the largest number of cards in his hand.
Strong suit —
same as long suit.