QUIT, v.t. pret. and pp. quit or quitted. [L. cedo. The sense of quit is to leave, to withdraw from; but the primary sense of the root must have been to move or to send; for to requite is to send back.]

Free; clear; discharged from; absolved. The owner of the ox shall be quit. Exod. xxi. [This word, though primarily a participle, and never placed before its noun, has properly the sense of an adjective.]

1. To leave; to depart from, either temporarily or forever. It does not necessarily include the idea of abandoning, without a qualifying word. A man quits his house for an hour, or for a month. He quits his native country on a voyage, or he quits it forever; he quits an employment with the intention of resuming it.
2. To free; to clear; to liberate; to discharge from. To quit you of this fear, you have already looked death in the face. [Nearly obsolete.] – Wake.
3. To carry through; to do or perform something to the end, so that nothing remains; to discharge or perform completely. Never a worthy prince a day did quit With greater hazard and with more renown. – Daniel.
4. To quit one's self, reciprocally, to clear one's self of incumbent duties by full performance. Samson hath quit himself Like Samson. – Milton. In this sense, acquit is generally used.
5. To repay; to requite. – Spenser. Enkindle all the sparks of nature To quit this horrid act. – Shak. In this sense, quit is now rarely used. We use requite.
6. To vacate obligation; to release; to free from. Dangers of law, / Actions, degrees, judgments against us quitted. – B. Jonson.
7. To pay; to discharge; hence, to free from; as, to quit the debt of gratitude. – Milton.
8. To set free; to release; to absolve; to acquit. Guiltless I quit, guilty I set them free. – Fairfax. In this sense, acquit is now used.
9. To leave; to give up; to resign; to relinquish; as, to quit an office.
10. To pay. Before that judge that quits each soul his hire. [Not used.] – Fairfax.
11. To forsake; to abandon. Such a superficial way of examining is to quit truth for appearance. – Locke. To quit cost, to pay; to free from by an equivalent; to reimburse; as, the cultivation of barren land will not always quit cost. To quit scores, to make even; to clear mutually from demands by mutual equivalents given. We will quit scores [marks of charges] before we part. Does not the earth quit scores with all the elements in her noble fruits? – South.

1. Any one of numerous species of small passerine birds native of tropical America. See Banana quit, under Banana, and Guitguit.
2. Released from obligation, charge, penalty, etc.; free; clear; absolved; acquitted.
   
   
   Chaucer.

   The owner of the ox shall be quit. Ex. xxi. 28.

   * 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.

3. To set at rest] to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate.
   
   
   [R.]

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

4. To go away; to depart; to stop doing a thing; to cease.
5. To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, or the like; to absolve; to acquit.
   
   

   There may no gold them quyte. Chaucer.

   God will relent, and quit thee all his debt. Milton.

6. 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.
   
   

   The blissful martyr quyte you your meed. Chaucer.

   Enkindle all the sparks of nature
   To quit this horrid act. Shak.

   Before that judge that quits each soul his hire. Fairfax.

7. To meet the claims upon, or expectations entertained of; to conduct; to acquit; -- used reflexively.
   
   

   Be strong, and quit yourselves like men. 1 Sam. iv. 9.

   Samson hath quit himself
   Like Samson. Milton.

8. To carry through; to go through to the end.
   
   
   [Obs.]

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

9. 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.
   
   

   Such a superficial way of examining is to quit truth for appearance. Locke.

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

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

   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.