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Befitting one's nature, qualities, etc.; suitable in all respect; appropriate; right; fit; decent; as, water is the proper element for fish; a proper dress. The proper study of mankind is man. Pope. In Athens all was pleasure, mirth, and play, All proper to the spring, and sprightly May. Dryden.

In a proper manner; suitably; fitly; strictly; rightly; as, a word properly applied; a dress properly adjusted. Milton.

To adjust in a suitable proportion, as one thing or one part to another; as, to proportion the size of a building to its height; to proportion our expenditures to our income. In the loss of an object we do not proportion our grief to the real value . . . but to the value our fancies set upon it. Addison.…

Having a due proportion, or comparative relation; being in suitable proportion or degree; as, the parts of an edifice are proportional. Milton.

The quality or state of being proper; suitableness to an acknowledged or correct standard or rule; consonance with established principles, rules, or customs; fitness; appropriateness; as, propriety of behavior, language, manners, etc. "The rule of propriety," Locke.

The act or process of prosecuting, or of endeavoring to gain or accomplish something; pursuit by efforts of body or mind; as, the prosecution of a scheme, plan, design, or undertaking; the prosecution of war. Keeping a sharp eye on her domestics . . . in prosecution of their various duties. Sir W. Scott.…

The person who institutes and carries on a criminal suit against another in the name of the government. Blackstone.

Being prospered; advancing in the pursuit of anything desirable; making gain, or increase; thriving; successful; as, a prosperous voyage; a prosperous undertaking; a prosperous man or nation.

The written appointment of a proctor in suits in the ecclesiastical courts. Burrill.

Capable of being published; suitable for publication.

Of or pertaining to the pulpit; suited to the pulpit. [R.] -- Pul*pit"ic*al*ly, adv. [R.] Chesterfield.

The act of pursuit. [R.]

To go in pursuit; to follow. The wicked flee when no man pursueth. Prov. xxviii. 1. Men hotly pursued after the objects of their ambition. Earle.

To corrupt; to make foul. Private suits do putrefy the public good. Bacon. They would but stink, and putrefy the air. Shak.

Americans, and other Occidentals, for wear in the dressing room and during sleep; also, a suit of drawers and blouse for such wear.

Squared; suited; correspondent. [Archaic] " A generical description quadrate to both." Harvey. Quadrate bone (Anat.), a bone between the base of the lower jaw and the skull in most vertebrates below the mammals. In reptiles and birds it articulates the lower jaw with the skull; in mammals it is represented by the malle…

In cards, four successive cards of the same suit. Cf. Tierce,

Like, becoming, or suitable to, a queen.

The act of seeking, or looking after anything; attempt to find or obtain; search; pursuit; as, to rove in quest of game, of a lost child, of property, etc. Upon an hard adventure yet in quest. Spenser. Cease your quest of love. Shak. There ended was his quest, there ceased his care. Milton.

One who lays informations, and encourages petty lawsuits. [Obs.] Bacon.