obit

English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman obit, Middle French obit, and their source, Latin obitus (“going down; death”), from obīre (“to go down, to die”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒbɪt/, /ˈəʊbɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

obit (plural obits)

1. (archaic) Death of a person. [14th–17th c.]
2. (Christianity, historical) A mass or other service held for the soul of a dead person. [from 14th c.]
   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 582:

     Medieval wills often contained bequests to pay for the singing of special (non-perpetual) masses on the testator's behalf. These obits, as they were called, combined alms for the poor with masses for the dead.

3. A record of a person's death. [from 15th c.]

Derived terms

• post-obit

 

Etymology 2

Clipping of obituary.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊbɪt/, /əˈbɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɪt

Noun

obit (plural obits)

1. (colloquial) An obituary.
   • 2010 December 9, Roy Greenslade, “Don't laugh - new TV show is set on a newspaper obits desk”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     So a proposed US series, called Circling the Drain, is certainly breaking new ground. It involves a 25-year-old reporter (played by Caprica's Alessandra Torresani) who is reassigned from a paper's style section to its obits desk.

Anagrams

• B. I. O. T., biot

French

Etymology

From Latin obitus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.bit/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

obit m (plural obits)

1. (archaic) death

Related terms

• obituaire

Further reading

• “obit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

obit

1. third-person singular present active indicative of obeō