quit

a. [ OE. quite, OF. quite, F. quitte. See Quit, v., Quiet. ] Released from obligation, charge, penalty, etc.; free; clear; absolved; acquitted. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

The owner of the ox shall be quit. Ex. xxi. 28. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This word is sometimes used in the form quits, colloquially; as, to be quits with one, that is, to have made mutual satisfaction of demands with him; to be even with him; hence, as an exclamation: Quits! we are even, or on equal terms. “To cry quits with the commons in their complaints.” Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of small passerine birds native of tropical America. See Banana quit, under Banana, and Guitguit. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Quit or Quitted; p. pr. & vb. n. Quitting. ] [ OE. quiten, OF. quiter, quitier, cuitier, F. quitter, to acquit, quit, LL. quietare, fr. L. quietare to calm, to quiet, fr. quietus quiet. See Quiet, a., and cf. Quit, a., Quite, Acquit, Requite. ] 1. To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To quit you of this fear, you have already looked Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it? Wake. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, or the like; to absolve; to acquit. [ 1913 Webster ]

There may no gold them quyte. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

God will relent, and quit thee all his debt. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To discharge, as an obligation or duty; to meet and satisfy, as a claim or debt; to make payment for or of; to requite; to repay. [ 1913 Webster ]

The blissful martyr quyte you your meed. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Enkindle all the sparks of nature
To quit this horrid act. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Before that judge that quits each soul his hire. Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To meet the claims upon, or expectations entertained of; to conduct; to acquit; -- used reflexively. [ 1913 Webster ]

Be strong, and quit yourselves like men. 1 Sam. iv. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

Samson hath quit himself
Like Samson. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To carry through; to go through to the end. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Never worthy prince a day did quit
With greater hazard and with more renown. Daniel. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To have done with; to cease from; to stop; hence, to depart from; to leave; to forsake; as, to quit work; to quit the place; to quit jesting. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such a superficial way of examining is to quit truth for appearance. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

To quit cost, to pay; to reimburse. --
To quit scores, to make even; to clear mutually from demands. [ 1913 Webster ]

Does not the earth quit scores with all the elements in the noble fruits that issue from it? South. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To leave; relinquish; resign; abandon; forsake; surrender; discharge; requite. -- Quit, Leave. Leave is a general term, signifying merely an act of departure; quit implies a going without intention of return, a final and absolute abandonment. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Bot.) Same as Quitch grass. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Figuratively: A vice; a taint; an evil. [ 1913 Webster ]

To pick the vicious quitch
Of blood and custom wholly out of him. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Properly quick grass, being probably so called from its vigorous growth, or from its tenacity of life. See Quick, and cf. Couch grass. ] (Bot.) A perennial grass (Agropyrum repens) having long running rootstalks, by which it spreads rapidly and pertinaciously, and so becomes a troublesome weed. Also called couch grass, quack grass, quick grass, twitch grass. See Illustration in Appendix. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Quit, a. + claim. ] (Law) A release or relinquishment of a claim; a deed of release; an instrument by which some right, title, interest, or claim, which one person has, or is supposed to have, in or to an estate held by himself or another, is released or relinquished, the grantor generally covenanting only against persons who claim under himself. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Quitclaimed p. pr. & vb. n. Quitclaiming. ] (Law) To release or relinquish a claim to; to release a claim to by deed, without covenants of warranty against adverse and paramount titles. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. See Quit. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]