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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Suit \Suit\ (s[=u]t), n. [OE. suite, F. suite, OF. suite,
sieute, fr. suivre to follow, OF. sivre; perhaps influenced
by L. secta. See {Sue} to follow, and cf. {Sect}, {Suite}.]
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.
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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.
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Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend,
Till this funereal web my labors end. --Pope.
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4. (Law) 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.
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I arrest thee at the suit of Count Orsino. --Shak.
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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 sw[=e]t.
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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 sw[=e]t.
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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. "Two rogues in buckram suits."
--Shak.
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8. (Playing Cards) 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.
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To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort
Her mingled suits and sequences. --Cowper.
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9. Regular order; succession. [Obs.]
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Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit
of weather comes again. --Bacon.
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10. Hence: (derived from def 7) Someone who dresses in a
business suit, as contrasted with more informal attire;
specifically, a person, such as business executive, or
government official, who is apt to view a situation
formalistically, bureaucratically, or according to formal
procedural criteria; -- used derogatively for one who is
inflexible, esp. when a more humanistic or imaginative
approach would be appropriate.
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{Out of suits}, having no correspondence. [Obs.] --Shak.

{Suit and service} (Feudal Law), 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}. --Blackstone.

{Suit broker}, one who made a trade of obtaining the suits of
petitioners at court. [Obs.]

{Suit court} (O. Eng. Law), the court in which tenants owe
attendance to their lord.

{Suit covenant} (O. Eng. Law), a covenant to sue at a certain
court.

{Suit custom} (Law), a service which is owed from time
immemorial.

{Suit service}. (Feudal Law) See {Suit and service}, above.


{To bring suit}. (Law)
(a) To bring secta, followers or witnesses, to prove the
plaintiff's demand. [Obs.]
(b) In modern usage, to institute an action.

{To follow suit}.
(a) (Card Playing) See under {Follow}, v. t.
(b) To mimic the action of another person; to perform an
action similar to what has preceded; as, when she
walked in, John left the room and his wife followed
suit.

{long suit}
(a) (Card Playing) the suit[8] of which a player has the
largest number of cards in his hand; as, his long
suit was clubs, but his partner insisted on making
hearts trumps.. Hence: [fig.] that quality or
capability which is a person's best asset; as, we
could see from the mess in his room that neatness was
not his long suit.

{strong suit} same as {long suit},
(b) . "I think our strong suit is that we can score from
both the perimeter and the post." --Bill Disbrow
(basketball coach) 1998. "Rigid ideological
consistency has never been a strong suit of the Whole
Earth Catalogue." --Bruce Sterling (The Hacker
Crackdown, 1994)
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Suite \Suite\, n. [F. See {Suit}, n.]
1. A retinue or company of attendants, as of a distinguished
personage; as, the suite of an ambassador. See {Suit}, n.,
5.
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2. A connected series or succession of objects; a number of
things used or clessed together; a set; as, a suite of
rooms; a suite of minerals. See {Suit}, n., 6.
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Mr. Barnard took one of the candles that stood upon
the king's table, and lighted his majesty through a
suite of rooms till they came to a private door into
the library. --Boswell.
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3. (Mus.) One of the old musical forms, before the time of
the more compact sonata, consisting of a string or series
of pieces all in the same key, mostly in various dance
rhythms, with sometimes an elaborate prelude. Some
composers of the present day affect the suite form.
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