Suit custom

Suit \Suit\ (s[=u]t), n. [OE. suite, F. suite, OF. suite,
   sieute, fr. suivre to follow, OF. sivre; perhaps influenced
   by L. secta. See {Sue} to follow, and cf. {Sect}, {Suite}.]
   1. The act of following or pursuing, as game; pursuit. [Obs.]
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   2. The act of suing; the process by which one endeavors to
      gain an end or an object; an attempt to attain a certain
      result; pursuit; endeavor.
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            Thenceforth the suit of earthly conquest shone.
                                                  --Spenser.
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   3. The act of wooing in love; the solicitation of a woman in
      marriage; courtship.
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            Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend,
            Till this funereal web my labors end. --Pope.
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   4. (Law) The attempt to gain an end by legal process; an
      action or process for the recovery of a right or claim;
      legal application to a court for justice; prosecution of
      right before any tribunal; as, a civil suit; a criminal
      suit; a suit in chancery.
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            I arrest thee at the suit of Count Orsino. --Shak.
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            In England the several suits, or remedial
            instruments of justice, are distinguished into three
            kinds -- actions personal, real, and mixed.
                                                  --Blackstone.
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   5. That which follows as a retinue; a company of attendants
      or followers; the assembly of persons who attend upon a
      prince, magistrate, or other person of distinction; --
      often written {suite}, and pronounced sw[=e]t.
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   6. Things that follow in a series or succession; the
      individual objects, collectively considered, which
      constitute a series, as of rooms, buildings, compositions,
      etc.; -- often written {suite}, and pronounced sw[=e]t.
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   7. A number of things used together, and generally necessary
      to be united in order to answer their purpose; a number of
      things ordinarily classed or used together; a set; as, a
      suit of curtains; a suit of armor; a suit of clothes; a
      three-piece business suit. "Two rogues in buckram suits."
      --Shak.
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   8. (Playing Cards) One of the four sets of cards which
      constitute a pack; -- each set consisting of thirteen
      cards bearing a particular emblem, as hearts, spades,
      clubs, or diamonds; also, the members of each such suit
      held by a player in certain games, such as bridge; as,
      hearts were her long suit.
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            To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort
            Her mingled suits and sequences.      --Cowper.
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   9. Regular order; succession. [Obs.]
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            Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit
            of weather comes again.               --Bacon.
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   10. Hence: (derived from def 7) Someone who dresses in a
       business suit, as contrasted with more informal attire;
       specifically, a person, such as business executive, or
       government official, who is apt to view a situation
       formalistically, bureaucratically, or according to formal
       procedural criteria; -- used derogatively for one who is
       inflexible, esp. when a more humanistic or imaginative
       approach would be appropriate.
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   {Out of suits}, having no correspondence. [Obs.] --Shak.

   {Suit and service} (Feudal Law), the duty of feudatories to
      attend the courts of their lords or superiors in time of
      peace, and in war to follow them and do military service;
      -- called also {suit service}. --Blackstone.

   {Suit broker}, one who made a trade of obtaining the suits of
      petitioners at court. [Obs.]

   {Suit court} (O. Eng. Law), the court in which tenants owe
      attendance to their lord.

   {Suit covenant} (O. Eng. Law), a covenant to sue at a certain
      court.

   {Suit custom} (Law), a service which is owed from time
      immemorial.

   {Suit service}. (Feudal Law) See {Suit and service}, above.
      

   {To bring suit}. (Law)
       (a) To bring secta, followers or witnesses, to prove the
           plaintiff's demand. [Obs.]
       (b) In modern usage, to institute an action.

   {To follow suit}.
       (a) (Card Playing) See under {Follow}, v. t.
       (b) To mimic the action of another person; to perform an
           action similar to what has preceded; as, when she
           walked in, John left the room and his wife followed
           suit.

   {long suit}
       (a) (Card Playing) the suit[8] of which a player has the
           largest number of cards in his hand; as, his long
           suit was clubs, but his partner insisted on making
           hearts trumps.. Hence: [fig.] that quality or
           capability which is a person's best asset; as, we
           could see from the mess in his room that neatness was
           not his long suit.

   {strong suit} same as {long suit},
       (b) . "I think our strong suit is that we can score from
           both the perimeter and the post." --Bill Disbrow
           (basketball coach) 1998. "Rigid ideological
           consistency has never been a strong suit of the Whole
           Earth Catalogue." --Bruce Sterling (The Hacker
           Crackdown, 1994)
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