requite

Chiefly in the form in requite for or of: synonym of requital (“compensation for damage or loss; return in kind, recompense, repayment, reward”).

Noun

  1. Chiefly in the form in requite for or of: synonym of requital (“compensation for damage or loss; return in kind, recompense, repayment, reward”).

Origin

The verb is derived from Middle English requiten (“to repay”), and then partly from both of the following: * From re- (prefix meaning ‘again; back, backward’) + quiten (“to pay, pay for; to repay; to acquit (someone of a charge), exonerate; to prove (oneself) innocent; to answer, reply; to atone for (a sin); to compensate, make amends; to depart, leave; to equal, match; to fulfil (an obligation); to give back, return; to give up, relinquish; to release, set free; to render (a service); to reward; to give retribution, take revenge”) (from Old French quitter (“to free, liberate”) (modern French quitter), from quitte (“free, liberated”) + -er (suffix forming verbs)). Quitte is derived from Latin quiētus (“at rest; quiet”), the perfect passive participle of quiēscō (“to repose, rest; to sleep; to be quiet or still”), from quiēs (“rest, repose; sleep; calm, peace, quiet”) (ultimately from...

Verb

  1. To repay (a debt owed); specifically, to recompense or reward someone for (a favour, a service rendered, etc.)
    • But remember / (For that's my buſineſſe to you) that you three / From Millaine did ſupplant good Proſpero, / Expos'd vnto the Sea (vvhich hath requit it) / Him, and his innocent childe: for vvhich foule deed, / The...
    • He that requiteth a good turne, muſt imploy ſomevvhat of his ovvne, as he doth vvho repayeth the monie he ovveth: but he layeth out nothing vvho ſatisfieth himſelfe, no more then he giueth, vvho giueth to himſelfe. […]...
    • [T]hey requited Chriſts paſſion, and died for him vvho ſuffered for them. - 1639, Thomas Fuller, “Jerusalem Wonne by the Turk, with Wofull Remarkables thereat”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge,...
  2. To repay (someone) a debt owed; specifically, to recompense or reward (someone) for a favour, a service rendered, etc.
    • Sir I am ſo poore to requite you, you muſt looke for nothing but thankes of me, […] - c. 1607–1610 (date written), Thomas Middleton; Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girle. Or Moll Cut-purse. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes]...
    • This place, to vvhich Ariſtotle ovv'd his birth, he aftervvards requited vvith extraordinary gratitude. - 1656, Tho[mas] Stanley, “[Aristotle.] Chap[ter] I. His Country, Parents, and Time of His Birth.”, in The History...
    • […] I vvas as vvell able to requite him for a large Preſent as he vvas to make it, and had reſolv'd it before I knevv he had ſent any Thing to the Ship; ſo that this exchanging of Preſents vvas but a kind of generous...
  3. To respond to or reciprocate (feelings, especially affection or love which has been shown).
    • My loue is requyted ſo louyngly / That in euery thyng that may delyght my mynde, / My wyt can not wyſhe it ſo well as I fynde - 1534, John Heywood, A Play of Loue, […], [London]: […] W[illiam] Rastell, →OCLC, signature...
    • To love thee boundless, was my bold resolve, / Because my courage fail'd to equal thee. / I then began with thousand tender arts / And pure fraternal love, thy heart to storm. / But cold, proud soul, requitedst thou...
  4. To do or give a thing in return for (something).
  5. To retaliate or seek revenge for (an insult, a wrong, etc.).; to avenge.
    • Let me this craue, ſith firſt I vvas defyde, / That firſt I may that vvrong to him requite: / And if I hap to fayle, you ſhall recure my right. - 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […],...
    • And when Joſephs brethren ſaw that their father was dead, they ſaid, Joseph will peraduenture hate vs, and will certainely requite vs all the euill which we did vnto him. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James...
    • […] I will requite, / Although mine enemy be great and strong, / His cruel threat—do thou defend the young! - a. 1823 (date written), Homer, “Hymn to Mercury. Translated from the Greek of Homer.”, in Percy Bysshe...

    Synonyms: avenge even the score get back at get one's own back retaliate settle the score take revenge tar out

  6. To retaliate or seek revenge against (someone) for an insult, a wrong, etc.; also (reflexive, rare), to seek revenge for (oneself).
    • My Gratious Lord, not ſo much for the iniury hée offred me héere in your preſence, as to delight you with ſome mirth, hath Fauſtus worthily requited this iniurious knight, which being all I deſire, I am content to...
    • [B]y kindling a fire in each Image, they made ſuch a ſmoke that the Indians vvounded & ſlevv many Tartars, vvho could not ſee to requite them [i.e., themselves] through the ſmoke: […] - 1613, Samuel Purchas, “[Relations...
    • And for a world bestowed, or a friend lost, / He can feel hate, fear, shame; not gratitude: / He but requites me for his own misdeed. - 1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus...
  7. To greet (someone) in return.
    • They him ſaluted ſtanding far afore; / VVho vvell them greeting, humbly did requight, / And asked, to vvhat end they clomb that tedious hight. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […],...
    • Lovvly they him ſaluted in meeke vviſe, / But he through pride and fatnes gan deſpiſe / Their meaneſſe; ſcarce vouchſafte them to requite. - 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in...
  8. To make up for (something); to compensate.
  9. To respond to (a question, a statement, etc.).
    • Jeſus […] requited their queſtion vvith an other, as though a man ſhoulde dryue out one nayle vvith an other. - 1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the...
    • He bowed slightly to K.'s uncle, who appeared very flattered to make this new acquaintance, yet, being by nature incapable of expressing obligation, requited the Clerk of the Court's words with a burst of embarrassed...
  10. To take the place of (someone or something); to replace.
    • [For if] tranſmutation be made from one mans body into another, as if a piece of fleſh be exchanged from the biciptall muſcle of either parties arme, and about them both, an Alphabet circumſcribed; upon a time appointed...
    • This Roman Hierarchy ſhall be Politically killed, deveſted of all Povver and Authority: From vvhence vvill naturally flovv Mourning and Famine, grief of heart, vvith ſcarcity and poverty to requite their luxury before....
    • Thy Mother vvell deſerves that ſhort delight, / The nauſeous Qualms of ten long Months and Travel to requite. - 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Pastoral. Or, Pollio.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing...
  11. Of an action, a quality, etc.: to be a reward for (itself).
    • 'Tis all vve beg thee, to conceal from Sight / Thoſe Acts of Goodneſs, vvhich themſelves requite. - 1715, [Alexander] Pope, The Temple of Fame: A Vision, London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 32:
    • [T]o have saved you requites itself. We who walk the greenwood do many a wild deed, and the Lady Rowena's deliverance may be received as an atonement. - 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter II, in...
  12. To recompense, to repay.

Forms

requites requiting requited no-table-tags glossary requite requitest requitedst requiteth - requit

Derived

requitable requital requitative requited requiteful requiteless requitement requiter requiting unrequitable unrequital unrequited unrequited love unrequitedly unrequitedness unrequitement unrequiting