acquit

See also: acquît

English
WOTD – 20 January 2019

Etymology

From Middle English aquī̆ten (“to give in return; to pay, repay; to redeem (a pledge, security), to make good (a promise); to make amends; to relieve of an obligation; to acquit, clear of a charge; to free; to deprive of; to do one's part, acquit oneself; to act, behave (in a certain way)”), from Old French aquiter (“to act, do”) and Medieval Latin acquitāre (“to settle a debt”),[1] from ad- (“prefix meaning ‘to’”) + quitare (“to free”),[2] equivalent to a- +‎ quit. See quit and compare acquiet.

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ə-kwĭt, IPA(key): /əˈkwɪt/
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪt
  • Hyphenation: ac‧quit

Verb

acquit (third-person singular simple present acquits, present participle acquitting, simple past acquitted, past participle acquitted or (archaic) acquit)

  1. (transitive) To declare or find innocent or not guilty.
    Synonyms: absolve, clear, exculpate, exonerate
    Antonyms: condemn, convict
    • 1619, Samuel Hieron, “[The Back-parts of Iehovah.] The Fourth Sermon.”, in The Sermons of Master Samvel Hieron, […], London: Printed by Iohn Legatt, published 1620, OCLC 863546051, page 188:
      [W]hen God ſaith of himſelfe, that he is one who acquiting will not acquite the wicked, his meaning is, that whatſoeuer may be ſuppoſed becauſe of his patience, yet he will not fully and finally diſcharge thoſe who goe on ſtill in their vngodly courſes, and preſume vpon his Mercy, without repentance.
    • 1628, Phineas Fletcher (falsely attributed to Edmund Spenser), Brittain’s Ida. Written by that Renowned Poët, Edmond Spencer, London: Printed [by Nicholas Okes] for Thomas Walkley, […], OCLC 960102177; republished in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Poems of Phineas Fletcher, B.D., Rector of Hilgay, Norfolk: […] In Four Volumes (The Fuller Worthies’ Library), volume I, [s.l.]: Printed for private circulation, 1869, OCLC 606061624, canto IV, stanza 8, page 72:
      But gently could his passion entertaine, / Though she Love's princesse, he a lowly swaine. / First of his bold intrusion she acquites him, / Then to her service (happy Boy!) admits him, / And, like another Love, with bow and quiver fits him.
    • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Printed [by Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, OCLC 830979744, pages 164–165:
      But I do not pretend that my protestations should acquit me: I rest my innocence on a plain and simple explanation of the facts which have been adduced against me; and I hope the character I have always borne will incline my judges to a favourable interpretation, where any circumstance appears doubtful or suspicious.
    • 1837 July, [Thomas Babington Macaulay], “Art. I.—The Works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England. A New Edition. By Basil Montagu, Esq. Sixteen Vols. 8vo. London: 1825–1834. [book review]”, in The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal, volume LXVI, number CXXXII, Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Company; for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, London; and Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh, OCLC 950902861, page 59:
      If he [Francis Bacon] was convicted, it was because it was impossible to acquit him without offering the grossest outrage to justice and common sense.
    • 1856, Mrs. William Busk, “Manfred”, in Mediæval Popes, Emperors, Kings, and Crusaders: Or, Germany, Italy and Palestine, from A.D. 1125 to A.D. 1268, volume IV, London: Hookham and Sons, […], OCLC 2480341, page 294:
      The new accusation brought by Urban [Pope Urban IV] against Manfred of murdering his sister-in-law's embassador—it may be observed that, tacitly, he acquits him of parricide, fratricide, and nepoticide—requires a little explanation.
  2. (transitive) To discharge (for example, a claim or debt); to clear off, to pay off; to fulfil.
    • c. 1380s, [Geoffrey Chaucer; William Caxton, editor], The Double Sorow of Troylus to Telle Kyng Pryamus Sone of Troye [...] [Troilus and Criseyde] (in Middle English), [Westminster]: Explicit per Caxton, published 1482, OCLC 863541017; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], book II, [London]: Printed by [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868, folio clxxix, verso, line 1200, column 1:
      Therwyth al roſy hewed tho woxe ſhe / And gan to hym, and ſayd, ſo I trowe / Aquyte him wel for goddes loue (q[uo]d he) / My ſelfe to medes wol the lettre ſowe […]
      (please add an English translation of this quote)
    • 1576, George Whetstone, “The Castle of Delight: […]”, in The Rocke of Regard, Diuided into Foure Parts. [...], Imprinted at London: [By H. Middleton] for Robert Waley, OCLC 837515946; republished in J[ohn] P[ayne] Collier, editor, The Rocke of Regard, Diuided into Foure Parts. [...] (Illustrations of Early English Poetry; vol. 2, no. 2), London: Privately printed, [1867?], OCLC 706027473, page 48:
      Although it pleaſed you this other night (occasion by me unhappily miniſtred) to intertaine time with an ordinarie profeſſion of love, yet (maſter Rinaldo) you doe both me and your ſelfe great injurie to continue your needleſſe labour with ſuch importunancie to me. […] Thus muche (being your firſte attempt) I thought it good to anſwere, leaſt you ſhould think with needleſſe niceneſſe I acquited your courteſies.
    • 1594, Torquato Tasso; R[ichard] C[arew], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Hierusalem: […], London: Imprinted by Iohn Windet for Christopher Hunt of Exceter, OCLC 1049095473; quoted in “Art. III. Godfrey of Bulloigne, or the Recouerie of Hierusalem. […]”, in [Henry Southern], editor, The Retrospective Review, volume III, part I, London: Charles and Henry Baldwin, […], 1821, OCLC 921234248, page 45:
      Midst foes (as champion of the faith) he ment / That palme or cypress should his paines acquite; […]
    • 1642, Edw[ard] Coke, “Statutum de Marlebridge, Editum 52. H. 3. Anno Gratiæ 1267”, in The Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. […], London: Printed by M[iles] Flesher, and R[obert] Young, for E[phraim] D[awson], R[ichard] M[eighen], W[illiam] L[ee] and D[aniel] P[akeman], OCLC 228722563, chapter IX, page 120:
      [Et ſi feoffati illi warrantum, vel medium not habeant.] That is to say, if they have neither one to warrant by ſpeciall graunt, nor any meſne by tenure which ought to acquit them, tunc omnes illi feoffati pro portione ſua contribuant, &c.
    • 1833 July 4, Edward Everett, An Address Delivered before the Citizens of Worcester on the Fourth of July, 1833, Boston, Mass.: Joseph T[inker] Buckingham, OCLC 15081600, pages 11–12:
      […] I admit it to be not so much the duty as the privilege of an American citizen, to acquit this obligation to the memory of his fathers with discretion and generosity. […] [I]t is not the less true, that there are many ties, which ought to bind our feelings to the land of our fathers. It is characterstic of a magnanimous people to do justice to the merits of every other nation; especially of a nation with whom we have been at variance and are now in amity; and most especially of a nation of common blood.
    • 1844, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay II. Experience.”, in Essays: Second Series, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, OCLC 191226129, page 56:
      We see young men who owe us a new world, so readily and lavishly they promise, but they never acquit the debt; they die young and dodge the account: or if they live, they lose themselves in the crowd.
  3. (transitive) Followed by of (and formerly by from): to discharge, release, or set free from a burden, duty, liability, or obligation, or from an accusation or charge.
    The jury acquitted the prisoner of the charge.
  4. (reflexive) To bear or conduct oneself; to perform one's part.
    The soldier acquitted herself well in battle.
    The orator acquitted himself very poorly.
  5. (reflexive) To clear oneself.
  6. (transitive, archaic) past participle of acquit.
  7. (transitive, obsolete) To release, to rescue, to set free.
  8. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To pay for; to atone for.

Alternative forms
conjugation of acquite
infinitive acquite
present participle acquiting
past participle acquited
simple progressive perfect perfect progressive
present I acquite we acquite I am acquiting we are acquiting I have acquited we have acquited I have been acquiting we have been acquiting
you acquite you acquite you are acquiting you are acquiting you have acquited you have acquited you have been acquiting you have been acquiting
he acquites they acquite he is acquiting they are acquiting he has acquited they have acquited he has been acquiting they have been acquiting
past I acquited we acquited I was acquiting we were acquiting I had acquited we had acquited I had been acquiting we had been acquiting
you acquited you acquited you were acquiting you were acquiting you had acquited you had acquited you had been acquiting you had been acquiting
he acquited they acquited he was acquiting they were acquiting he had acquited they had acquited he had been acquiting they had been acquiting
future I will acquite we will acquite I will be acquiting we will be acquiting I will have acquited we will have acquited I will have been acquiting we will have been acquiting
you will acquite you will acquite you will be acquiting you will be acquiting you will have acquited you will have acquited you will have been acquiting you will have been acquiting
he will acquite they will acquite he will be acquiting they will be acquiting he will have acquited they will have acquited he will have been acquiting they will have been acquiting
conditional I would acquite we would acquite I would be acquiting we would be acquiting I would have acquited we would have acquited I would have been acquiting we would have been acquiting
you would acquite you would acquite you would be acquiting you would be acquiting you would have acquited you would have acquited you would have been acquiting you would have been acquiting
he would acquite they would acquite he would be acquiting they would be acquiting he would have acquited they would have acquited he would have been acquiting they would have been acquiting
imperative acquite

Synonyms

Derived terms
Terms derived from acquit

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

References
  1. “aquī̆ten, v.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 8 September 2018.
  2. “acquit” (US) / “acquit” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.

Further reading
  • acquittal on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • acquit in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1914

French

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /a.ki/
  • Audio(file)

Verb

acquit

  1. third-person singular past historic of acquérir
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