quits

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of quit.

   The pilot quits the cockpit only after every system has shut down.

   If the app freezes, it quits without saving your work.

   Note

   The same spelling does two jobs. Here it is a verb with a singular subject (she quits the job, he quits smoking), while the "owing nothing" adjective follows be (we're quits). When it means resigning or stopping an activity, the verb can stand without an object, as in "he quits." When it means leaving a place, the place is always named.

2. 2
   adjectivecolloquialBritish

   On equal terms over money, with neither party owing nor being owed anything.

   Like a scoreboard tied at nothing: neither side is ahead.

   Once she'd handed over the last tenner, the two of them were quits.

   Let's call it quits and forget who paid for what.

   Similareven, square

   Note

   A settling-up word from British colloquial speech that comes after the verb rather than before a noun: we're quits now, they were quits at last. It does not take degrees, so nobody is more quits than anyone else. It suits friends squaring a small loan, not banks or contracts, where formal wording does the same work.

3. 3
   noun

   Plural of quit.

   A pair of quits flitted between the hibiscus blossoms all afternoon.

   The veranda drew several quits to the sugar bowl each morning.

   Note

   Among the noun meanings, only the bird gives this plural. It counts small passerines native to tropical America, so you might see several quits at a feeder or a pair of quits in the hedge. Don't confuse it with the settling-up adjective, which looks identical but never counts anything.

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