fit 
reception or use of any person : as, to /it up a house for a 
guest. 
They [the Dutch] first fit them [trading sloops] up after 
their own fashion, and put :i Kmlder to them, which the _, , . _ , . 
.(ihornians don't use. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 5. ntcn 4 _(nen), re. 
You haven't bet-n here, I believe, since I fitted up this 
room. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. 3. 
= Syn. 1. To adjust. 3. To equip, provide. 
II. intrans. 1. To be fit, suitable, becoming, 
seemly, or proper. 
Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits. 
Spenser, Sonnets, liv. 
Xorfits it to prolong the feast. Pope, Odyssey. 
2. To be properly adjusted ; be adapted or 
made suitable. 
2242 
2. To transfix ; pierce. 
Thei ben scaterid, and not ficcliii/ |I,. r<u//i/ni'//] with 
sorewe. U'</r//V, I'*, xxxiv. 10. 
[E. dial.] A spoonful. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
And when it is raised anil removed, put in a piece of a 
sponge, as much as a fitch, in the hole which the powder fify-pe- 
made, and it will purge the drinesse of the wound. 
fittie-lan' 
2. A fit, suitable, or proper thing; something 
adapted to a purpose. 
I am, sir, 
The soldier that did company these three 
In pnor beseeming; 'twas A fitment for 
The purpose I then follow d. 
Shak., Cymbeline, v. 5. 
t ' r< 1if2 + new 1 
HOT;, . (_> J 11 T -ness. \ 
The 
This [habit] fits not nicely, that is ill conceiv'd. 
Barroit'jli, Meth.nl of Physick (1624). 
fitch-brush (fich'brush), . A brush or hair- 
pencil made of the hair of the fitchew or polecat. 
Fitch-brushes are much esteemed, as they are elastic and 
firm, can be brought to a flue point, and work freely. The 
name is also given to small brushes made of hog's hair. 
fitch6, fitch6e (fi-cha'), a. [Heraldic F. ; F. 
ficht, pp. of ficher, drive in, fix: see fitch 3 .} In 
JM p.wi,.i,,.<,,,uu, , co/ . !"' In constructing an ideally perfect distribution of the 
Cowper, Task, u. 603. her. : (a) Sharpened or cut to a point; ending means of happiness, it seemed necessary to take into ac- 
state or quality of being fit or suitable ; suit- 
ableness; adaptedness or adaptability of one 
thing to another ; hence, congruity ; befitting- 
ness; meetness: as, the fitness of things; the 
filiicxs of a thing for the purpose intended. 
Fitness is so inseparable an accompaniment of beauty, 
that it has been taken for it. Etnerson, Art, p. 47. 
In constructing an ideall 
To fit into, to adapt itself to ; harmonize with. in a point : said 
All below fits into the procession in cloudland above. especially of a 
The American, XII. 88. cross when the 
fit 3 (fit), n. [Still used occasionally, as an ar- lowermost arm 
chaism, and spelled fitt, fitte, fytte ; ME. fit, fyt, seems as if in- 
fytt, fijttc, a song, ballad, or story, a division tended to be 
of a song, ballad, or story, < AS* fitt, a song, fixed in the 
The AS. word is rare, and has no known con- 
nections. 
Different forms of Cross FitchtS Gules. 
, ry to 
count the notion (as I called it) of Fitness, which, though 
often confounded with Desert, seems essentially distinct 
from it. //. Sidgu-ick, Methods of Ethics, p. 330. 
One thing in life calls for another ; there is & fitness in 
events and places. R, L. Stevenson, A Gossip on Romance. 
2. The state of being fitted or qualified; re- 
quisite capacity; qualification: as, he lacks 
fitness for the place. 
To do its work well, an apparatus must possess special 
fitness for that work. //. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 301. 
vision of a song, ballad, or story. 
As God in heven has gyffen me wit, 
Shalle I now syng you &fytt 
Withe my mynstrelsy. 
Towneley Mysteries, p. 51. 
Loo, lordes myne, heer is a/t' .' 
If ye wol any more of it, 
To telle it wol I fonde. 
Chaucer, Sir Thopas, I. 177. 
Poems sweet 
Like separate souls shall fly from it, 
Each to an immortal fvtte. 
Mrs. Broirning, Isobel's Child, xxxi. 
[This use of fit for a musical air played, not sung, is erro- 
neous, but not uncommon.] 
fit 4 (fit), n. [Sc., a var. of foot; prob. due to 
Scand. influence; cf. Icel. fet, a step, pace, 
foot (a measure of length), = Dan. fjed = Sw. 
fjcit, track, trace, footstep ; Icel. fit, the webbed 
foot of water-birds : see/oo<.] Afoot; a step. 
Bonny Lizie was weary wi' travelling, 
And a. fit furder colldna win. 
ground. (6) 
Not from Icel. fet, a pace, step, foot Less commonly, having a long sharp point at- 
(as a measure of length); Icel. fet does not tached to the cross or other bearing, and pro- 
mean a metrical foot, and the E. fit* is not a jecting beyond the bottom. Also fiche, ficlied, fit-rod (fit'rod), . In ship-building, a small iron 
metrical foot.] A song, ballad, or story ; a di- figetive, filched, fitchy Cross fltcW double, in rod, bent at one end to prevent it from slipping 
her., a cross differing from the Maltese cross in having the entirely into a deep hole, for insertion into the 
ten'ninating'iiuwo point?- fhns~a (Ttfss dimiSe titche'has holes made in a vessel's sides in order to ascer- 
one arm notched at the end, so as to show two sharp points, tain the required length of the bolts or treenails 
or, if double fltche of all four, has each arm so shaped. 
Fltch6 of all four. See cross estoile, under crmal. 
Treble fltche, in her., ending in three points. See double 
fitchf. 
fitehed (ficht), a. 
Same as fitchf. 
fitchet (fich'et), . A variant of fitchew. 
which are to be driven in. 
(_<fitch3 + -ed?: 
l< fitf + -aWe.~\ Suit- 
plaL . 
fitt, n. See fits. 
fittablet (fit'a-bl), a. 
... ,.,,. able. Sherwood. 
fitchew (fich'd'), n. '[Also'j^c/jfi'and "fitch (see fittedness (fit'ed-nes), . The state of being 
fitch2),&T\ddia.\.fitchee,fitcher,fitchote,fitchtik, fitted; adaptation; fitness. [Rare.] 
etc. ; < ME. fitchew, fichew, < OF. fissiau, fissau. There is not an ampler testimony of Providence than 
the structure of man's body : the safeness of the fahrick 
of the eyes : their exquisite fittedness to their use, <fec. 
Dr. II. More, Antidote against Atheism, ii. 12. 
fitten, fitton (fit'en, -on), n. [E. dial., origin 
uncertain. Doubtfully connected with/ron.] 
A pretense or feint. Hatliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
He doth feed you with fittons, figments, and leasings. 
H. Jonxon, Cynthia's Revels, i. 1. 
. , , . , , 
< OD. fisse, visse, ritsche, a polecat (Kilian). Cf. 
D. vies, nasty, loathsome, and see fizzle, foist 1 .'] 
The polecat or foulmart, Putorius vulgaris or P. 
fcetidits. See polecat. 
Vnder that cope a cote hath he furred, 
With foyns, or vf\t\\ fitcheuvs other fyn beuer. 
Piers Plowman's Crude (E. E. T. S.), 1. 295. 
To be a dog, a mule, a cat, & fitchew, a toad, . . . I would 
tttfa Lindsay (Child s Ballads, IV . 64). not care ; but to be Menelaus, I would conspire against fittent, fittont (fit'en, -on), V. i. [Early mod 
MM*., T. and c., v. i. K jj tone See fitten, n'.} To tell falsehoods ; 
A dialectal variant of draw the long bow; invent fictions. Pals- 
O think that eild [age], wi' wytyfit, 
Is wearing nearer bit by bit. 
Fer^on, Poems, II. 107. *** ( fich/61 )' " 
II. intrans. To 
fit 5 (fit), a. [A dial. var. of feaft, in same 
sense.] Great; long: as, a/<time; a, fit deal 
of trouble. [Prov. Eng. ] 
Each board has two tenons fastened in their silver sock- 
ets, which sockets some conceive nudejttdky or picked fitter 1 (fit'er) n 
Fuller, Pisgah Sight of Palestine, II. iv. 4. 
grave. 
Although in many other places he commonly useth to 
fitton and to write devises of his own head. 
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 1016, A. 
1. One who fits, in any sense 
of that word ; one who or that which adapts one 
fitful (fit'ful), a. [< fifl + -/?.] Varied by ir- thing to another, or makes it suitable for the 
. fitches, pi., ficche, also fetches, pi., fetche, 
feche,fech; in later E., usually with initial v, 
vitch, vetch: see fetch."] A vetch. In the authorized 
version of the Bible the word is used to translate two dif- 
ferent Hebrew words (Ezek. iv. 9 ; Isa. xxviii. 25 - 27). The 
Shak., Macbeth, iii. 2. 
Keen, fitful gusts are whispering here and there 
Among the bushes, half leafless ami dry. 
Keats, Sonnets, xiii. 
onshire and Corn- 
& fitter of it 
idry. 
ma- 
m- 
maker, founder, turner, finisher, etc. 3. One 
who supplies and fixes fittings or fixtures of any 
kind ; one who " fits up " things : as, a g&s-fitter. 
4. One who supplies whatever is fit or ne- 
, 
Tho' far between, and coming fitfully 
, 
Like broken music. 
fitch 2 (fich), n. [Short for fitchet or fitchew; or fitfully (fit'ful-i), adv. By fits; at intervals. 
directly <OD. vitsche : see fitchet, fitchew.'] 1. Her letters too, 
In zool., same as fitchew. 2. In furriery, the 
dressed fur of the fitchew ; the prepared skin of 
the polecat. It makes a fine, soft, and warm 
fur, but the natural odor is difficult to remove. 
3. Same as fitch-brush. 
The smallest hog-hair brushes are called fitches. 
Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 106. 
fitchpt (fich), v. t. [< ME. fitchen, ficchen, fichen, 
some parts of Great Britain, one who vends and 
loads coal, fitting ships with cargoes; particu- 
larly, a coal-broker who sells the coal produced 
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field, by a particular mine or by particular mines. 
Imp. Diet. Also called coal-fitter. 
But fitfully there the hearth-flre burns. 
Whittier, Mogg Megone, i. fitter 2 (fit'er), v. [E. dial, and Sc., appar. freq. 
fitfulness (fit'ful-nes), n. The state of being of fit*: see fit*.'] I. trans. To injure by fre- 
fitful; impulsiveness; waywardness; instabil- quent treading. [Scotch.] 
ity. II. intrans. 1. To kick as cross children do; 
. , v ,. .,_ _^_ _ __ fithelt, . A Middle English form of fiddle. make a noise with the feet. [Prov. Eng. and 
fix, fasten, pierce, < OF. ficher, fix, fasten, nail Htly (nt li), rt. In a fit manner; suitably; Scotch.] 2. To be in a passion. [Prov. Eng.] 
pierce, stick, thrust or drive in, F. ficher, drive P r P erlv ; with propriety ; commodiously ; con- fitter 2 ! (fit'er), n. [(fitter*, v.~\ A passion; a 
in, = Pr. ficar == OSp. OPg. ficar, Sp. hincar, v e ni ently: as, a maxim fitly applied. quarrel.-in fitters, in a passion. [Obsolete or prov. 
Which their Indian conquest may make the ensigne of Eng '' 
their Order more fitly then their Burgundian inheritance. They were in fitters about prosecuting their titles to this 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 341. city. Fuller, Holy War, p. 225. 
Cats, that can judge as fitly of his worth fittest (fit'er), . [A form of flitter, flinder.} 
As ! can of those mysteries. Shak., Cor., iv. 2. A fragmen t . J flinder ; a rag ; a flitter. 
eherr?e n s C n ew?y a gaSe'] 116 ^ * DOthing " #* ** tO None of your piec'd companions, your pinn'd gallants, 
/.' Walton, Complete Angler, p. 67. That fly te ft tter with ever y fl * w J^* h | r I i grilll i 1 
A paire of racks in the house was all torne to fitters. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 142. 
fittie-lan' (fit'i-lan), . [Sc., as if 'foot the 
land'(Jamieson). See fit*, ?'.] The near horse 
or ox of the hindmost pair in a plow. 
Pg. fincar = It. ficcare, fix, fasten, nail, drive in 
(comp. F. afficher, stick up, = Pr. aficar = It. 
afficcare, fix, fasten, drive), appar., through a 
ML. form "figicare, < L. figere, pp. fixus, fix, 
fasten, drive or thrust in, transfix, pierce: see 
fix, v.] 1. To fix; fasten; setup. 
With Crist I am ficchid [var. fitchid] to the cross. 
But the two hynder feet were so depe ficched in the hau^ 
berke, that the heed of the catte hanged down-warde. 
Merlin (E. . T. S.), iii. 668. 
' a fittim ?' 
Tne rudder and its fitments. Luce, Seamanship, p. 95. 
Fitment showing recess for lounge. Art Aye, V. 22. 
