sit

present singular third person sits · participle present sitting · past sat · dated past poetic sate · participle past sat · dated participle past poetic sate · archaic dialectal participle past sitten · first person past singular sat · dated first person past poetic singular sate · past second person singular sat · dated past poetic second person singular sate · past second person singular sattest · present singular third person sits · past singular third person sat · dated past poetic singular third person sate · past plural sat

1. copulativeintransitiveTo be in a position in which the upper body is upright and supported by the buttocks.

   After a long day of walking, it was good just to sit and relax.

   1 more example

   You're finishing the chowder if you sit there (motionless) all evening!

   Synonyms: be seated

2. intransitiveTo move oneself into such a position.

   I asked him to sit.

   Synonyms: be seated, sit down, sit up, take a seat

3. intransitiveTo occupy a given position.

   The dishes are still sitting on the table!

   3 more examples

   The temple has sat atop that hill for centuries.

   Jim's pet parrot sat on his left shoulder.

   The Yellow Sea sits between the Korean Peninsula and China.

   2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

   Synonyms: be

4. copulativeintransitiveTo remain in a state of repose; to rest; to abide; to rest in any position or condition.

   Like a demigod here sit I in the sky.

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

   1 more example

   And Moses said to […] the children of Reuben, Shall your brothren go to war, and shall ye sit here?

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 32:6

5. governmentTo be a member of a deliberative body.

   I currently sit on a standards committee.

6. governmentOf a legislative or, especially, a judicial body such as a court, to be in session.

   In what city is the circuit court sitting for this session?

7. To lie, rest, or bear; to press or weigh.

   The calamity sits heavy on us.

   1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC

8. To be adjusted; to fit.

   Your new coat sits well.

   1 more example

   This new and gorgeous garment, majesty, / Sits not so easy on me as you think.

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

9. intransitiveTo be accepted or acceptable; to work.

   I don’t think it will sit well.

   2 more examples

   How will this new contract sit with the workers?

   The violence in these video games sits awkwardly with their stated aim of educating children.

   Synonyms: be accept, be welcome, be well receive

10. causativetransitiveTo cause to be seated or in a sitting posture; to furnish a seat to.

    Sit him in front of the TV and he might watch for hours.

11. transitiveTo accommodate in seats; to seat.

    The dining room table sits eight comfortably.

    1 more example

    I sat me weary on a pillar's base, / And leaned against the shaft

    1899, James Thomson, “The City of Dreadful Night”, in The City of Dreadful Night and Other Poems, page 43

    Synonyms: seat

12. USabbreviationambitransitiveellipsisEllipsis of babysit.

    I'm going to sit for them on Thursday.

    3 more examples

    I need to find someone to sit my kids on Friday evening for four hours.

    I saw […] Mrs. Turman, who sometimes sat Billy when Steff and I went out […]

    1980, Stephen King, The Mist, Viking Press

    Sitting was a “quintessentially American experience,” Yasemin Besen-Cassino, a Montclair State University sociologist and the author of The Cost of Being a Girl: Working Teens and the Origins of the Gender Wage Gap, told me.

    2024 March 19, Faith Hill, “Don’t Tell America the Babysitter’s Dead”, in The Atlantic

13. AustraliaNew ZealandUKtransitiveTo take, to undergo or complete (an examination or test).
14. To cover and warm eggs for hatching, as a fowl; to brood; to incubate.

    The partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not.

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 17:11

15. To take a position for the purpose of having some artistic representation of oneself made, such as a picture or a bust.

    I'm sitting for a painter this evening.

16. To have position, as at the point blown from; to hold a relative position; to have direction.

    Sits the wind in that quarter?

    1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC

    1 more example

    like a good miller that knows how to grind, which way soever the wind sits

    1689, John Selden, Table Talk

17. obsoletetransitiveTo keep one's seat when faced with (a blow, attack); to endure, to put up with.First known use 13th–19th c.

    Louisa, who […] had but ill born the commencement of this conversation, could sit it no longer, and hastily throwing up the sash, complained of the intense heat of the room.

    1790, Amelia Opie, chapter 5, in Dangers of Coquetry, volume I

plural sits

1. An act of sitting.
2. businessSubsidence of the roof of a coal mine.
3. rareBuddhismAn event, usually lasting one full day or more, where the primary goal is to sit in meditation.

plural sits

1. abbreviationclippinginformalClipping of situation.

   Sure he has a small bank balance somewhere, government sit.

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 13: Nausicaa]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 358

   1 more example

   The increasing scope of the disaster was relayed in short, terse sentences whose brevity does not conceal the unfolding nightmare. […] In mid-afternoon at 1600: “Sit is getting worse; need help badly,” “have considerable number of wounded that are unable to evacuate.”

   2012, Gail Shisler, For Country and Corps: The Life of General Oliver P. Smith

plural Sits

1. A surname.

plural SITs

1. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablecommunicationsInitialism of special information tone.
2. IndiaabbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of Special Investigation Team.
3. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of spontaneous ignition temperature.
4. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of sterile insect technique