quitter

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪ.tə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)
• Homophone: quittor

Etymology 1

From Middle English quitter, from Anglo-Norman quiture, quyture et al., specialised use of quiture (“burn mark, burning”), from the participle stem of cuire (“to cook”), or from Latin coctura (“cooking”).

Alternative forms

• quittor (obsolete except farriery)
• quitture (obsolete)

Noun

quitter (uncountable)

1. (now rare outside Jamaica) Matter flowing from a wound or sore; pus.
   • 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Job II:

     Therfor Sathan [...] smoot Joob with a ful wickid botche fro the sole of the foot til to his top; which Joob schauyde the quytere with a schelle, and sat in the dunghil.

2. (farriery) Alternative spelling of quittor (“fistulous wound at the top of a horse's foot”)
3. (obsolete) Scoria of tin.

Verb

quitter (third-person singular simple present quitters, present participle quittering, simple past and past participle quittered)

1. To suppurate; ooze with pus.

Etymology 2

From quit +‎ -er.

Noun

quitter (plural quitters)

2. One who quits, as:
   2. One who gives in.

      Synonym: (humorous) giver-upper

      Winners never quit and quitters never win.

      Don't be a quitter — hang in there!

      • 1974 August 8, Richard Nixon, 2:00 from the start, in Richard Nixon's resignation speech‎, CBSN:

        I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as president, I must put the interests of America first.

      • 2001, Peter Mandelson, 4:14 from the start, in 2001 victory speech‎, ITV:

        Well, they underestimated Hartlepool, and they underestimated me because I am a fighter and not a quitter!

   4. One who succeeds in desisting from a vice, especially smoking, drinking, or drugging.

      Hypernym: ever-smoker

      Coordinate term: never-smoker

      Quitters are winners! If you can't quit on the first try, hang in there and try to quit again!

3. (archaic) A leaver.
4. (obsolete) A deliverer.

Derived terms

• rage quitter
• spitters are quitters

Translations

French

Etymology

From quitte +‎ -er, or from Late Latin quietare (“acquit, discharge, release”), from Latin quiētāre (“to calm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki.te/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

quitter

1. (transitive, law or obsolete) to discharge somebody from an obligation
2. (transitive, of a place) to leave, to quit
3. (transitive, of a person) to part with somebody, to leave somebody

Conjugation

Derived terms

• ne pas quitter d’une semelle
• ne pas quitter des yeux
• quittance
• quitter le navire

Related terms

• acquitter

Further reading

• “quitter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

Old French quitter.

Verb

quitter

1. to release from an obligation; to forgive (a debt)
2. to liberate; to free
3. to pardon
4. to leave

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Descendants

• French: quitter

References

• quitter on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (quitter, supplement)

Old French

Etymology

From Medieval Latin quiētus (“at rest”).

Verb

quitter

1. to liberate; to free

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-tt, *-tts, *-ttt are modified to t, z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Descendants

• → English: quit
• French: quitter

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (quitter, supplement)
• quitter on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.