Obs. exc. arch. Forms: 1 fitt, 4–5 fyt(t, 4–6 fitt(e, 5–6, 9 fytte, 5–8 fit. [OE. fitt str. fem. = OS. *fittia, preserved in latinized form in the preface to the Hêliand: ‘Juxta morem vero illius poematis, omne opus per vitteas distinxit, quas nos lectiones vel sententias possumus appellare.’
Some regard the word as identical with OHG. fiza list of cloth, mod.Ger. fitze skein of yarn, also explained in the 17th c. as ‘the thread with which weavers mark off a day’s work’; the sense ‘division or canto of a poem’ might well be a transferred use of this. The Ger. word corresponds to ON. fit str. fem., hem, also ‘web’ of a bird’s foot:—OTeut. *fitjâ, of unknown origin: see remarks under next sb.]
1. A part or section of a poem or song; a canto.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxi. § 1 (Gr.). Se wisdom þa þas fitte asungen hæfde.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 139. Cumse[þ] þer a Fitte.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sir Thomas, 177.
| Lo, lordes, heer is a fyt; | |
| If ye wil eny more of it, | |
| To telle it wol I fonde. |
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 5626. And now fynes here a fitt · & folows a-nothire.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, 349, in Babees Bk. (1868), 309.
| Of curtasie here endis þe secunde fyt, | |
| To heuen crist mot oure saules flyt! |
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, I. xxvi. (Arb.), 65. This Epithalamie was deuided by breaches into three partes to serue for three seuerall fits or times to be song.
1771. Johnson, Lett. to Langton, 20 March, in Boswell. Dr. Percy has written a long ballad in many fits; it is pretty enough.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. xciii.
| Here is one fytte of Harold’s pilgrimage: | |
| Ye who of him may further seek to know, | |
| Shall find some tidings in a future page, | |
| If he that rhymeth now may scribble moe. |
1864. Skeat, trans. Uhland’s Poems, 213.
| The first ‘fytte’ here is ended, | |
| The next begins its flight; | |
| A bird is upward soaring, | |
| Mark where it next shall ’light! |
2. A strain of music, stave. Also, to dance a fit.
a. 1500. Iak & his step dame, in Herrig’s Archiv, XC. 78.
| I shall yow shewe of my gle: | |
| Ye shall haue a fytte. |
a. 1548[?]. King Estmere, 243, in Percy Reliq. (1765), I. 68. To playe my wiffe and me a fitt.
c. 1550. R. Weaver, Lusty Juventus, in Hazl., Dodsley, II. 48.
| By the mass, I would fain go dance a fit. | |
| My companions are at it, I know right well; | |
| They do not all this while in a corner sit. |
1578. The Gude and Godlie Ballates (1868), 182.
| Lord quick and trick togidder knit | |
| Sa sall thay pype ane mirrie fit. |
1673. True Worship God, 65. An afternoon Sermon … many times … serves only like a fit of Musick, to Lull them asleep after their Dinner.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 611. Come now, strike up and give us a fit.
