(n): an article of clothing
(n): a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy
(n): (law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked
(n): (slang) a businessman dressed in a business suit
(n): a person engaged in commercial or industrial business (especially an owner or executive)
(n): a man's courting of a woman; seeking the affections of a woman (usually with the hope of marriage)
(n): earnest or urgent request
(n): a petition or appeal made to a person of superior status or rank
(n): earnest or urgent request
(n): playing card in any of four sets of 13 cards in a pack; each set has its own symbol and color
(n): one of a pack of cards that are used to play card games
(v): be agreeable or acceptable to
(v): satisfy a condition or restriction
(v): be agreeable or acceptable
(v): have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)
(v): accord or comport with
(v): be compatible, similar or consistent; coincide in their characteristics
(v): enhance the appearance of
(v): make more beautiful
This is fascinating. Thanks, qroqqa! I love your etymological explorations.
One of those words with a complicated unfolding of senses. The origin is Latin *sequit-, past participle of seq- "follow", and the earliest meanings in English (late 1200s) are three senses of a "following":
(i) attendance on a lord at court, i.e. following one's lord there;
(ii) a lord's following, i.e. their company or retinue;
(iii) the livery worn by a following or retinue.
Then came the sense of "pursuit", hunting or seeking, and in the early 1400s this developed the sense of pursuing someone at law, a lawsuit. This then widened to any supplication or petition (early to mid 1400s). In the late 1500s it took on the particular sense of "courtship, wooing".
Now I'm guessing it was the "livery" sense that around 1400 was extended to any set of matching things: first clothing; then playing-cards (early 1500s); and numerous obsolete uses. 'Suit of armour' is modern, no earlier than Sir Walter Scott.
The variant form 'suite' took on various "set" meanings: rooms (early 1700s), music (mid 1700s), furniture (early 1800s), bathroom fittings (early 1900s).
Wow. That'll keep you quiet, huh?
"People are hassling me today for wearing a suit."
*laughter*
"I'm just trying to get you all funding for the next three years, that's all."
*silence*
--My boss, two minutes ago.