fit

• IPA^(key): /fɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt

Possibly from Middle English fit (“an adversary of equal power”).

fit (comparative fitter, superlative fittest)

1. Suitable, proper.

   You have nothing to say about it. I'll do exactly as I see fit.

   • Bible, Job xxxiv. 18

     Is it fit to say a king, Thou art wicked?

   • 2005, Lesley Brown, Sophist, translation of original by Plato, 243d:

     The rest we'll leave to be examined later, if we think fit;

2. Adapted to a purpose or environment.

   survival of the fittest

   • Shakespeare

     That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in.

3. In good shape; physically well.

   You don't have to be a good climber for Kilimanjaro, but you do have to be fit.

4. (Britain, slang) Good looking, fanciable, attractive, beautiful.

   I think the girl working in the office is fit.

   • 2004, Mike Skinner (lyrics), “Fit But You Know It”, in A Grand Don't Come for Free, performed by The Streets:

     I think you are really fit / You're fit but my gosh don't you know it.

   • 2007, Kate Nash, Paul Eppworth (lyrics), “Foundations”, in Made of Bricks, performed by Kate Nash:

     I said I'd rather be with your friends, mate, cos they are much fitter.

5. Prepared; ready.
   • Fairfax

     So fit to shoot, she singled forth among her foes who first her quarry's strength should feel.

fit (third-person singular simple present fits, present participle fitting, simple past and past participle fitted or fit)

1. (transitive) To be suitable for.

   It fits the purpose.

   • 1918, Richard Dennis Teall Hollister, Speech-making, publ. George Wahr, pg. 81:

     The speaker should be certain that his subject fits the occasion.

2. (transitive) To conform to in size and shape.

   The small shirt doesn't fit me, so I'll buy the medium size.

   If I lose a few kilos, the gorgeous wedding dress might fit me.

3. (intransitive) To be of the right size and shape
   • 2016 February 2, Kate Winslet & al., Jimmy Kimmel Live!

     Even though in a way you let him freeze to death in the water, because the way I see it...
     I agree. Y'know, I think he actually could have fitted on that bit of door.
     There was plenty of room on the raft.
     I know. I know, I know.

   I wanted to borrow my little sister's jeans, but they didn't fit.

   That plug fit into the other socket, but it won't go in this one.

4. (transitive, with to) To make conform in size and shape.

   I want to fit the drapes to the windows.

   1. (transitive) To tailor; to change to the appropriate size.

      I had a suit fitted by the tailor.

5. (transitive) To be in agreement with.

   These definitions fit most of the usage.

6. (transitive) To adjust.

   The regression program fit a line to the data.

7. (transitive) To attach, especially when requiring exact positioning or sizing.
   • 2012 May 13, Andrew Benson, “Williams's Pastor Maldonado takes landmark Spanish Grand Prix win”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Williams had a problem fitting his left rear tyre and that left Alonso only 3.1secs adrift when he rejoined from his final stop three laps later.

8. (transitive) To equip or supply.

   The chandler will fit us with provisions for a month.

9. (transitive) To make ready.

   I'm fitting the ship for a summer sail home.

10. (intransitive, archaic) To be seemly.
11. To be proper or becoming.
    • Alexander Pope

      Nor fits it to prolong the feast.

12. (intransitive) To be in harmony.

    The paint, the fabrics, the rugs all fit.

fit (plural fits)

1. The degree to which something fits.

   This shirt is a bad fit.

   Since he put on weight, his jeans have been a tight fit.

2. Conformity of elements one to another.

   It's hard to get a good fit using second-hand parts.

3. The part of an object upon which anything fits tightly.
4. (advertising) How well a particular commercial execution captures the character or values of a brand.

   The Wonder Bread advertising research results showed the “White Picket Fence” commercial had strong fit ratings.

5. (statistics) Goodness of fit.
6. (bridge) The quality of a partnership's combined holding of cards in a suit, particularly of trump.

   During the auction, it is often a partnership's goal to find an eight-card major suit fit.

Usually used in the singular preceded by an indefinite article and an adjective.

• (advertising): The Advertising Research Handbook Charles E. Young, Ideas in Flight, Seattle, WA, April 2005

Unknown, possibly from Old English fitt (“song”), or, from the sense of fitted to length.

fit (plural fits)

1. (archaic) A section of a poem or ballad.
   • 1771, Samuel Johnson, "Letter to Bennet Langton, Esq. (March 20)," in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol 2:

     Dr. Percy has written a long ballad in many fits.

   • Spenser

     to play some pleasant fit

• Oxford English Dictionary: fit, fyte n. 1

Unknown, possibly from Old English fitt (“conflict”). Probably cognate with Italian fitta (pain, especially sudden and stabbing pain). See more at Latin fīgere.

fit (plural fits)

1. A seizure or convulsion.

   My grandfather died after having a fit.

2. (medicine) A sudden and vigorous appearance of a symptom over a short period of time.
3. A sudden outburst of emotion.

   He had a laughing fit which lasted more than ten minutes.

   She had a fit and threw all of his clothes out through the window.

   He threw a fit when his car broke down.

4. A sudden burst (of an activity).
   • 2007 July 9, Ryan J. Foley, “Wisconsin city^s largest employer threatens to leave over ethanol”, in Associated Press:

     A fit of spring-cleaning led Eric Brooks to a box of old newspaper clips from 1997.

• (sudden outburst of emotion): blowout, hissy, tantrum, spell, moment
• (sudden burst of activity): flurry, frenzy, paroxysm

fit (third-person singular simple present fits, present participle fitting, simple past and past participle fitted)

1. (intransitive, medicine) To suffer a fit.
   • 2016, 18 May, Three dogs die and seven more ill after drinking from the same Kent lake amid contamination fears (in The Telegraph)

     A spokesman said: "It is believed they (the dogs) got into the lake and drank from it. They came out and started fitting. Shortly after that three of them died and vets are attempting to resuscitate the other one."

• ITF, if't

Of onomatopoetic origin.

• IPA^(key): [fit]

fit (definite accusative fiti, plural fitlər)

1. whistle
2. siren (a device that makes a piercingly loud sound as an alarm or signal, or the sound from such a device)

• fit çalmaq (“to whistle”)

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈfit/
• Rhymes: -it

fit (feminine fita, masculine plural fits, feminine plural fites)

1. fixed (of eyes, regard, etc.)

fit m (plural fits)

1. target

Borrowed from English fit.

fit

1. (Cantonese) fit (physically well; in good shape)

fit

1. fit, healthy

• This adjective is indeclinable.

• Rhymes: -ɪt

• audio

  (file)

fit (comparative fitter, superlative fitst)

1. fit (in good shape)

• Audio

  (file)

fit

1. third-person singular past historic of faire

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt

fit (comparative fitter, superlative am fittesten)

1. fit (in good shape)

• IPA^(key): /fɪːt/
• Rhymes: -ɪːt

fit f (genitive singular fitjar, nominative plural fitjar)

1. (zoology) web, interdigital webbing, a membrane that connects the digits of an animal
2. (knitting) a casting on, casting on

• breiðafit
• fitja
• fuglafit
• fuglsfit
• gullfit
• hundafit
• lykkjufit
• Halldórufit
• silfurfit
• skollafit
• sundfit

• A deliberation on the word "fit" on the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum ("Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies")

fit

1. third-person singular present passive indicative of faciō
2. third-person singular present active indicative of fiō

From English fit, probably through German fit.

• IPA^(key): /fit/
• Rhymes: -it

fit (masculine fitten, neuter fit, comparative méi fit, superlative am fitsten)

1. fit (in good shape)

fit (plural fits)

1. foot
2. lower end (of a street, river, field etc)

• fitbaw

fit (third-person singular present fits, present participle fitin, past fitt, past participle fitt)

1. to foot

Variant of whit.

fit (Doric)

1. what

• IPA^(key): [fit]

fit (plural fits)

1. (male or female) fish (cold-blooded vertebrate)