different between recant vs quit

English

Etymology

First attested in 1535, from Latin recantare, present active infinitive of recanto (“to sing back, reecho, sing again, repeat in singing, recant, recall, revoke, charm back or away”), from re- (“back”) + canto (“to chant, to sing”), frequentative of cano.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???kænt/
• Rhymes: -ænt

Verb

recant (third-person singular simple present recants, present participle recanting, simple past and past participle recanted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To withdraw or repudiate a statement or opinion formerly expressed, especially formally and publicly.

   Synonyms: abjure, disavow, disown, recall, retract, revoke, take back, unsay, withcall; see also Thesaurus:recant

Translations

Related terms

• recantation
• recanter

See also

• contradict
• recall
• revoke

Further reading

• recant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• recant in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• recant at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “recant”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Canter, Cretan, canter, carnet, centra, creant, nectar, tanrec, trance

English

Alternative forms

• quight (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: kw?t, IPA^(key): /kw?t/, [k?w??t]
• Rhymes: -?t

Etymology 1

From Middle English quiten, quyten, from Anglo-Norman quitter, Old French quitter, from quitte (“acquited, quit”), ultimately from Latin quietus.

Compare Dutch kwijten (“to quit”), German Low German quitten (“to quit”), German quitten, quittieren, Danish kvitte, Swedish qvitta, kvitta (“to quit, leave, set off”), Icelandic kvitta.

Verb

quit (third-person singular simple present quits, present participle quitting, simple past and past participle quit or quitted)

1. (transitive, archaic) To pay (a debt, fine etc.).
   • 1605, William Shakespeare

     Enkindle all the sparks of nature / To quit this horrid act.

   • that judge that quits each soul his hire

2. (transitive, obsolete) To repay (someone) for (something).
   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Again?t venemous tongues enpoy?oned with ?claunder and fal?e detractions &c.:

     But if that I knewe what his name hight,
     For clatering of me I would him ?one quight;
     For his fal?e lying, of that I ?pake never,
     I could make him ?hortly repent him forever: […]

3. (transitive, 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?

   • 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, III.2:

     Forgive me, Rogero: 'tis my fate / To love thy friend and quit thy love with hate.

4. (reflexive, archaic) 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.
5. (transitive, archaic) To carry through; to go through to the end.
   • 1595-1609, Samuel Daniel, Civil Wars

     Never worthy prince a day did quit / With greater hazard and with more renown.

6. (transitive) To set at rest; to free, as from anything harmful or oppressive; to relieve; to clear; to liberate.
   • 1688, William Wake, Preparation for Death

     To quit you […] of this fear, […] you have already lookt Death in the face; what have you found so terrible in it?

7. (transitive) To release from obligation, accusation, penalty, etc.; to absolve; to acquit.
8. (transitive) To abandon, renounce (a thing).
9. (transitive) To leave (a place).

   • Jones had no sooner quitted the room, than the petty-fogger, in a whispering tone, asked Mrs Whitefield, “If she knew who that fine spark was?”

10. (transitive, intransitive) To resign from (a job, office, position, etc.).

11. (transitive, intransitive) To stop, give up (an activity) (usually + gerund or verbal noun).

12. (transitive, computing) To close (an application).

Adjective

quit (not comparable)

1. (usually followed by of) Released from obligation, penalty, etc; free, clear, or rid.
   • 1990, Claude de Bèze, 1688 revolution in Siam: the memoir of Father de Bèze, s.j, translated by E. W. Hutchinson, University Press, page 153:

     With mounting anger the King denounced the pair, both father and son, and was about to condemn them to death when his strength gave out. Faint and trembling he was unable to walk and the sword fell from his hands as he murmured: 'May the Protector of the Buddhist Faith grant me but seven more days grace of life to be quit of this disloyal couple, father and son'.

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 the British National Corpus. Quitted is more commonly used to mean “left”. e.g., She quitted her job.

Conjugation

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:quit.

Derived terms

• quitter

Translations

References

Pam Peters, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, Cambridge University Press, p. 453.

Etymology 2

Probably of imitative origin.

Noun

quit (plural quits)

1. Any of numerous species of small passerine birds native to tropical America. [from 19th c.]

Derived terms

• bananaquit
• grassquit
• orangequit

Related terms

• guitguit

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

French

Verb

quit

1. third-person singular past historic of quérir

Latin

Verb

quit

1. third-person singular present active indicative of que?

Old French

Verb

quit

1. first-person singular present indicative of quidier