SUIT, n. [L. sequor.] See Seek. In Law Latin, secta is from the same source.] Literally, a following; and so used in the old English statutes.

1. Consecution; succession; series; regular order; as, the same kind and suit of weather. [Not now so applied.] – Bacon.
2. A set; a number of things used together, and in a degree necessary to be united, in order to answer the purpose; as, a suit of curtains; a suit of armor; sometimes with less dependence of the particular parts on each other, but still, united in use; as, a suit of clothes; a suit of apartments.
3. A set of the same kind or stamp; as, a suit of cards.
4. Retinue; a company or number of attendants or followers; attendance; train; as, a nobleman and his suit. [This is sometimes pronounced as a French word, sweet; but in all its senses, this is the same word, and the affectation of making it French in one use and English in another, is improper, not to say ridiculous. The French orthography suite is rejected very properly by Jameson.]
5. A petition; a seeking for something by petition or application. Many shall make suit to thee. – Job xi.
6. Solicitation of a woman in marriage; courtship. – Shak.
7. In law, 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. In England, the several suits or remedial instruments of justice, are distinguished into three kinds, actions personal, real, and mixed. – Blackstone.
8. Pursuit; prosecution; chase. – Spenser. Cyc. Suit and service, in 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 perform military service. Blackstone. To bring suit, a phrase in law, denoting literally to bring secta, followers or witnesses to prove the plaintif's demand. The phrase is antiquated, or rather it has changed its signfication; for to bring a suit, now is to institute an action. Out of suits, having no correspondence. – Shak. Suit-covenant, in law, is a covenant to sue at a certain court. – Bailey. Suit-court, in law, the court in which tenants owe attendance to their lord. – Bailey.

To agree; to accord; as, to suit with; to suit to. Pity suits with a noble nature. – Dryden. Give me not an office / That suits with me so ill. – Addison. The place itself was suiting to his care. – Dryden. [The use of with, after suit, is now most frequent.]

1. To fit; to adapt; to make proper. Suit the action to the word. Suit the gestures to the passion to be expressed. Suit the style to the subject.
2. To become; to be fitted to. Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well. – Dryden. Raise her notes to that sublime degree, / Which suits a song of piety and thee. – Prior.
3. To dress; to clothe. Such a Sebastian was my brother too, / So went lie suited to his watery tomb. – Shak.
4. To please; to make content. He is well suited with his place.

1. The act of following or pursuing, as game; pursuit.
   
   
   [Obs.]
2. To fit] to adapt; to make proper or suitable; as, to suit the action to the word.
   
   
   Shak.
3. To agree; to accord; to be fitted; to correspond; -- usually followed by with or to.
   
   

   The place itself was suiting to his care. Dryden.

   Give me not an office
   That suits with me so ill. Addison.

   Syn. -- To agree; accord; comport; tally; correspond; match; answer.

4. 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.
   
   

   Thenceforth the suit of earthly conquest shone. Spenser.

5. To be fitted to; to accord with; to become; to befit.
   
   

   Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well. Dryden.

   Raise her notes to that sublime degree
   Which suits song of piety and thee. Prior.

6. The act of wooing in love; the solicitation of a woman in marriage; courtship.
   
   

   Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend,
   Till this funereal web my labors end. Pope.

7. To dress; to clothe.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   So went he suited to his watery tomb. Shak.

8. 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.
   
   

   I arrest thee at the suit of Count Orsino. Shak.

   In England the several suits, or remedial instruments of justice, are distinguished into three kinds -- actions personal, real, and mixed. Blackstone.

9. To please; to make content; as, he is well suited with his place; to suit one's taste.
10. 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***emacr]t.
11. 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***emacr]t.
12. 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.
    
    
    "Two rogues in buckram suits." Shak.
13. 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.
    
    

    To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort
    Her mingled suits and sequences. Cowper.

14. Regular order; succession.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again. Bacon.

    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. (Card Playing) See under Follow, v. t.