obit

[oh-bit for 1; oh-bit, ob-it for 2, 3; especially British ob-it for 1–3]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR obit ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Informal. an obituary.

the date of a person's death.

Obsolete. a Requiem Mass.

Origin of obit

1325–75; Middle English obite < Latin obitus death, equivalent to obi- (stem of obīre to meet, meet one's death, die; ob- ob- + īre to go) + -tus suffix of v. action

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for obit

eulogy, burial, cremation, register, announcement, necrology, requiem, entombment, inhumation, interment, sepulture, planting, services, obsequies, exequies

Examples from the Web for obit

Contemporary Examples of obit

Marilyn Johnson has written fascinating books about obit writers and librarians.
The Real-Life Raiders of the Lost Ark
Alex Belth
November 14, 2014
“An artist, a bohemian, lover of music, men, food, clothing, travel, politics, and peace,” the obit in a local paper said of her.
The Little Girl Who Welcomed Mossadegh to New York
Michael Daly
September 27, 2013
Would a male scientist have drawn such an obit opening about his great fatherhood skills?
New York Times Changes Sexist Obit
Howard Kurtz
March 31, 2013
To write his obit would be to admit that he was going to die, and who wanted to admit such a thing?
Ray Bradbury, Dead at 91, Taught Generations of Readers How to Dream
Malcolm Jones
June 6, 2012
Nothing against her, but I kinda can't believe that Donna Summer's obit made A1 of the Times.
A1-Worthy Musical Deaths
Michael Tomasky
May 18, 2012

Historical Examples of obit

At every months mind, years mind, or obit, the curate has 8d.
Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England
Edward L. Cutts
If the mother just died, you could at least get an obit out of it, she explained.
Joan of the Journal
Helen Diehl Olds
In return the college undertook to keep an obit for him every year.
Oxford and its Story
Cecil Headlam
Colchester and the Convent covenanted to observe the Bishop's obit—September 18—which we know they did to the last.
William de Colchester
Ernest Harold Pearce
In 1493 he established at University College an obit for the widow of Warwick the king-maker.
Oxford and its Story
Cecil Headlam

British Dictionary definitions for obit

obit

noun informal

short for obituary

a memorial service

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for obit

late 14c., "death," from Middle French obit or directly from Latin obitus "death," noun use of past participle of obire "to die," literally "to go toward" (see obituary). In modern usage (since 1874) it is usually a clipped form of obituary, though it had the same meaning of "published death notice" 15c.-17c. The scholarly abbreviation ob. with date is from Latin obiit "(he) died," third person singular of obire.