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fit1
—fittable, adj.adj.1. adapted or suited; appropriate: This water isn't fit for drinking. A long-necked giraffe is fit for browsing treetops.2. proper or becoming: fit behavior.3. qualified or competent, as for an office or function: a fit candidate.4. prepared or ready: crops fit for gathering.5. in good physical condition; in good health: He's fit for the race.6. Biol.a. being adapted to the prevailing conditions and producing offspring that survive to reproductive age.b. contributing genetic information to the gene pool of the next generation.c. (of a population) maintaining or increasing the group's numbers in the environment.7. fit to be tied, Informal. extremely annoyed or angry: He was fit to be tied when I told him I'd wrecked the car.8. fit to kill, Informal. to the limit; exceedingly: She was dressed up fit to kill.v.t.10. to be proper or becoming for.11. to be of the right size or shape for: The dress fitted her perfectly.12. to adjust or make conform: to fit a ring to the finger.13. to make qualified or competent: qualities that fit one for leadership.14. to prepare: This school fits students for college.15. to put with precise placement or adjustment: He fitted the picture into the frame.16. to provide; furnish; equip: to fit a door with a new handle.v.i.17. to be suitable or proper.18. to be of the right size or shape, as a garment for the wearer or any object or part for a thing to which it is applied: The shoes fit.19. fit out or up, to furnish with supplies, equipment, clothing, furniture, or other requisites; supply; equip: to fit out an expedition.n.20. the manner in which a thing fits: The fit was perfect.21. something that fits: The coat is a poor fit.22. the process of fitting.[1325-75; ME fitten; akin to MD vitten to befit]Syn. 1. suitable, apt, corresponding, meet, applicable, apropos. 2. fitting, befitting. 5. healthy, hale, hardy, strong, robust.Usage. Both FIT and FITTED are standard as past tense and past participle of FIT1: The new door fit (or fitted) the old frame perfectly. The suit had fitted (or fit) well last year. FITTED is somewhat more common than FIT in the sense "to adjust, make conform": The tailor fitted the suit with a minimum of fuss. In the passive voice, FITTED is the more common past participle: The door was fitted with a new handle.fit2/fit/, n.1. a sudden, acute attack or manifestation of a disease, esp. one marked by convulsions or unconsciousness: a fit of epilepsy.2. an onset, spell, or period of emotion, feeling, inclination, activity, etc.: a fit of anger; a fit of weeping.3. by or in fits and starts, at irregular intervals; intermittently: This radio works by fits and starts.4. throw a fit, to become extremely excited or angry: Your father will throw a fit when he hears what you have done.[bef. 1000; ME; OE fitt round of fighting. See FIT3]fit3/fit/, n. Archaic.1. a song, ballad, or story.2. a division of a song, ballad, or story.[bef. 900; ME; OE fitt round of singing, canto, song, speech]fit4/fit/, v. Nonstandard (chiefly older use).pt. of fight.
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in literature, a division of a poem or song, a canto, or a similar division. The word, which is archaic, is of Old English date and has an exact correspondent in Old Saxon fittea, an example of which occurs in the Latin preface of the Heliand. It probably represents figurative use of a common Germanic noun referring to the unraveled edge of a fabric. Lewis Carroll revived this archaic poetic division (perhaps to lend gravity) in the composition of his 132-verse nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark (1876), beginning with “Fit the First: The Landing” and ending with “Fit the Eighth: The Vanishing.”* * *
Universalium. 2010.
