What is "to follow suit"

Follow \Fol"low\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Followed; p. pr. & vb. n. Following.][OE. foluwen, folwen, folgen, AS. folgian, fylgean, fylgan; akin to D. volgen, OHG. folg[=e]n, G. folgen, Icel. fylgja, Sw. f["o]lja, Dan. f["o]lge, and perh. to E. folk.]

1. To go or come after; to move behind in the same path or direction; hence, to go with (a leader, guide, etc.); to accompany; to attend.

   It waves me forth again; I'll follow it.
   --Shak.

2. To endeavor to overtake; to go in pursuit of; to chase; to pursue; to prosecute.

   I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them.
   --Ex. xiv. 17.

3. To accept as authority; to adopt the opinions of; to obey; to yield to; to take as a rule of action; as, to follow good advice.

   Approve the best, and follow what I approve.
   --Milton.

   Follow peace with all men.
   --Heb. xii. 1

4. It is most agreeable to some men to follow their reason; and to others to follow their appetites.
   --J. Edwards.

   4. To copy after; to take as an example.

   We had rather follow the perfections of them whom we like not, than in defects resemble them whom we love.
   --Hooker.

5. To succeed in order of time, rank, or office.

6. To result from, as an effect from a cause, or an inference from a premise.

7. To watch, as a receding object; to keep the eyes fixed upon while in motion; to keep the mind upon while in progress, as a speech, musical performance, etc.; also, to keep up with; to understand the meaning, connection, or force of, as of a course of thought or argument.

   He followed with his eyes the flitting shade.
   --Dryden.

8. To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling.

   O, had I but followed the arts!
   --Shak.

   O Antony! I have followed thee to this.
   --Shak.

   Follow board (Founding), a board on which the pattern and the flask lie while the sand is rammed into the flask.
   --Knight.

   To follow the hounds, to hunt with dogs.

   To follow suit (Card Playing), to play a card of the same suit as the leading card; hence, colloquially, to follow an example set.

   To follow up, to pursue indefatigably.

   Syn: Syn.- To pursue; chase; go after; attend; accompany; succeed; imitate; copy; embrace; maintain.

   Usage: - To Follow, Pursue. To follow (v.t.) denotes simply to go after; to pursue denotes to follow with earnestness, and with a view to attain some definite object; as, a hound pursues the deer. So a person follows a companion whom he wishes to overtake on a journey; the officers of justice pursue a felon who has escaped from prison.

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.]

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.

   Thenceforth the suit of earthly conquest shone.
   --Spenser.

3. The act of wooing in love; the solicitation of a woman in marriage; courtship.

   Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend, Till this funereal web my labors end.
   --Pope.

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.

   I arrest thee at the suit of Count Orsino.
   --Shak.

   In England the several suits, or remedial instruments of justice, are distinguished into three kinds -- actions personal, real, and mixed.
   --Blackstone.

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.

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.

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.

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.

   To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort Her mingled suits and sequences.
   --Cowper.

9. Regular order; succession. [Obs.]

   Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again.
   --Bacon.

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. 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)

    1. To bring secta, followers or witnesses, to prove the plaintiff's demand. [Obs.]

    2. In modern usage, to institute an action. To follow suit.

       1. (Card Playing) See under Follow, v. t.

       2. 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

          1. (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,

          2. . ``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)