comfit

English

Etymology 1

From Old French confit (“preserved fruit”), from Latin cōnfectum. Doublet of confect, confetto, confit, and konfyt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌmfɪt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

comfit (plural comfits)

1. A confection consisting of a nut, seed or fruit coated with sugar.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     Heart! you swear like a comfit-maker's wife.

   • 1869, Louisa May Alcott, Perilous Play‎^[1]:

     "Why, what are they?" she asked, looking at him askance. ¶ "Hashish; did you never hear of it?" ¶ "Oh, yes; it's that Indian stuff which brings one fantastic visions, isn't it? I've always wanted to see and taste it, and now I will," cried Belle, nibbling at one of the bean-shaped comfits with its green heart.

   • 1922, James Elroy Flecker, The Story of Hassan of Baghdad and How he Came to Make the Golden Journey to Samarkand‎^[2], New York: Alfred A. Knopf, act I, page 17:

     But since I ate your present of comfits—and they were admirable comfits, and I ate them with speed—my heart is changed and inclined toward you, I know not why or how, except it be through magic.

Derived terms

• kissing comfit

Related terms

• comfiture

See also

• bonbon
• discomfit
• sugar-plum

Verb

comfit (third-person singular simple present comfits, present participle comfiting, simple past and past participle comfited)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To make into a dry sugared confection.
   • 17th c, Abraham Cowley, The First Nemeæan Ode of Pindar: The Muse, 1795, Robert Anderson (editor), The Works of the British Poets, Volume 5, page 302,

     The fruit which does ſo quickly waſte, // Men ſcarce can ſee it, much leſs taſte, // Thou comfiteſt in ſweets to make it laſt.

References

• “comfit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology 2

Acronym, from Computer Facial Identification Techniques.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmfɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

comfit (plural comfits)

1. (Australia) A computerised image of a suspect produced for the police force.
   • 2023, Trent Dalton, Lola in the Mirror:

     A black and white comfit of a man with a chin shaped like a spade, doorstop for a nose..