quit [ME] The Latin verb quiescere ‘be still, be at peace’, source of quiescent [E17th], lay behind the adjective quietus ‘free’, in medieval Latin ‘free from war, calm’, source of quiet [ME]. In Old French quietus became quitte ‘acquitted, exempt, released’, which gave us quit which initially had the sense ‘free, clear of debt’. As a verb it initially meant ‘repay, liberate’ and was also used for acquit [ME], which goes back to the same root. From these meanings it developed the sense ‘leave, go away’ and ‘stop’ [both M16th]. In French quite could also have the sense ‘without opposition’ and from this, via the idea of ‘completely’, quite [ME] developed. It was not until the early 19th century that the sense ‘entirely, totally’ was weakened to ‘rather, moderately’.