Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AC-QUIT', v.t. [Fr. acquitter; W. gadu, gadaw; L. cedo; Arm. kitat, or quytaat, to leave, or forsake; Fr. quitter, to forsake; Sp. quitar; Port. quitar; It. quitare, to remit, forgive, remove; D. kwyten; Ger. quittiren.]

To set free; to release or discharge from an obligation, accusation, guilt, censure, suspicion, or whatever lies upon a person as a charge or duty; as, the jury acquitted the prisoner; we acquit a man of evil intentions. It is followed by of before the object; to acquit from is obsolete. In a reciprocal sense, as, the soldier acquitted himself well in battle, the word has a like sense, implying the discharge of a duty or obligation. Hence its use in expressing excellence in performance; as, the orator acquitted himself well, that is, in a manner that his situation and public expectation demanded.