Quit vs Requite - What's the difference?
quit | requite | Synonyms |
To pay (a debt, fine etc.).
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:Enkindle all the sparks of nature / To quit this horrid act.
*(Edward Fairfax) (c.1580-1635)
*:that judge that quits each soul his hire
To repay (someone) for (something).
*:
*:I was but late att a Iustynge / and there I Iusted with a knyghte that is broder vnto kynge Pellam / and twyes smote I hym doune / & thenne he promysed to quyte me on my best frynde / and so he wounded my sone that can not be hole tyll I haue of that knyghtes blood
(obsolete) To repay, pay back (a good deed, injury etc.).
*1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.v:
*:Vnthankfull wretch (said he) is this the meed, / With which her soueraigne mercy thou doest quight ?
To conduct or acquit (oneself); to behave (in a specified way).
*
*:Be strong and quit' yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: ' quit yourselves like men, and fight.
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:Samson hath quit himself like Samson.
To carry through; to go through to the end.
*(Samuel Daniel) (1562-1619)
*:Never worthy prince a day did quit / With greater hazard and with more renown.
(label) To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate.
*(William Wake) (1657-1737)
*:To quit you of this fear, you have already looked Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it?
(label) To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, etc.; to absolve; to acquit.
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:God will relent, and quit thee all his debt.
(label) To abandon, renounce (a thing).
(label) To leave (a place).
To resign from (a job, office, position, etc.).
:
To stop, give up (an activity) (usually + gerund or verbal noun).
:
To close (an application).
(quit)
To return in kind; To repay; to recompense; to reward.
* 1610 , , act 3 scene 3
*:But, remember—
*:For that's my business to you,—that you three
*:From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
*:Expos'd unto the sea, which hath requit it,
*:Him, and his innocent child: for which foul deed
*:The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
*:Incens'd the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,
*:Against your peace.
* 1925 , Franz Kafka, The Trial'', ''Vintage Books (London) , pg. 91:
To retaliate.
Quit is a synonym of requite.
As verbs the difference between quit and requite
is that quit is while requite is to return in kind; to repay; to recompense; to reward.quit
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) quiter, (etyl) quiter, from , ultimately from (etyl) quietus .Verb
Derived terms
* quitterQuotations
* (English Citations of "quit")Usage notes
* The past tense of quit'' is now ''quit'' for most speakers and writers; dictionaries usually allow ''quitted'' as an alternative, but it is rare or nonexistent in North America and Australia, and outnumbered by ''quit'' by about 16 to 1 in theBritish National Corpus. Quitted is more commonly used to mean "left". ''ie. She quitted her job.
References
Pam Peters, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage , Cambridge University Press, p. 453.Etymology 2
Derived terms
* bananaquitrequite
English
Alternative forms
*(archaic) requitVerb
(en-verb)- He bowed slightly to K.'s uncle, who appeared very flattered to make this new acquaintance, yet, being by nature incapable of expressing obligation, requited the Clerk of the Court's words with a burst of embarrassed but raucous laughter.