suit: Meaning and Definition of

suit

Pronunciation: (st), [key]
— n.
  1. a set of clothing, armor, or the like, intended for wear together.
  2. a set of men's garments of the same color and fabric, consisting of trousers, a jacket, and sometimes a vest.
  3. a similarly matched set consisting of a skirt and jacket, and sometimes a topcoat or blouse, worn by women.
  4. any costume worn for some special activity: a running suit.
  5. a business executive.
  6. the act, the process, or an instance of suing in a court of law; legal prosecution; lawsuit.
  7. Spades were his long suit.
    1. one of the four sets or classes (spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs) into which a common deck of playing cards is divided.
    2. the aggregate of cards belonging to one of these sets held in a player's hand at one time:Spades were his long suit.
    3. one of various sets or classes into which less common decks of cards are divided, as lances, hammers, etc., found in certain decks formerly used or used in fortune telling.
  8. suite (defs. 1–3, 5).
  9. the wooing or courting of a woman: She rejected his suit.
  10. the act of making a petition or an appeal.
  11. a petition, as to a person of rank or station.
  12. Also calleda complete group of sails for a boat.
  13. one of the seven classes into which a standard set of 28 dominoes may be divided by matching the numbers on half the face of each: a three suit contains the 3-blank, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, and 3-6. Since each such suit contains one of each of the other possible suits, only one complete suit is available per game.
  14. The girl jumped over the fence, and her playmates followed suit.
    1. Cards.to play a card of the same suit as that led.
    2. to follow the example of another:The girl jumped over the fence, and her playmates followed suit.
—v.t.
  1. to make appropriate, adapt, or accommodate, as one thing to another: to suit the punishment to the crime.
  2. to be appropriate or becoming to: Blue suits you very well.
  3. to be or prove satisfactory, agreeable, or acceptable to; satisfy or please: The arrangements suit me.
  4. to provide with a suit, as of clothing or armor; clothe; array.
—v.i.
  1. to be appropriate or suitable; accord.
  2. to be satisfactory, agreeable, or acceptable.
  3. to dress in a uniform or special suit.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
See also: