sit
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: sĭt
ipa: /sɪt/
rhymes: -ɪt
Forms: form: sits
form: sitting
form: sat
form: sate
form: sat
form: sate
form: sitten
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: sit
form: sit
form: sat
form: sate
form: sit
form: sat
form: sate
form: sattest
form: sits
form: sat
form: sate
form: sit
form: sat
form: sate
form: sit
form: sat
form: sate
form: sit
form: -
form: sitting
form: sat
form: sitten
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *sed-
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *sédyeti
Proto-Germanic *sitjaną
Proto-West Germanic *sittjan
Old English sittan
Middle English sitten
English sit
From Middle English sitten, from Old English sittan, from Proto-West Germanic *sittjan, from Proto-Germanic *sitjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“sit”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian sitte, Low German sitten, Dutch zitten, German sitzen, Swedish sitta, Norwegian Bokmål sitte, Norwegian Nynorsk sitja; and with Irish suigh, Latin sedeo, Russian сиде́ть (sidétʹ).
Senses: examples: text: He is so fayre, withoutten les, / he semys full well to sytt on des.
ref: 15th c., “[The Creation]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: […] Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC, page 5, lines 120–121:
english: He is so fair, without any limit; his appearance shows well when he sits on the dais.
translation: He is so fair, without any limit; his appearance shows well when he sits on the dais.
text: This were as good as curds for our Jone, / When at a night we ſitten by the fire.
ref: 1593, Michael Drayton, “The Eighth Eglog”, in Idea the Shepheards Garland, […], London: […] [T. Orwin] for Thomas Woodcocke, […], →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Idea the Shepheards Garland, [London]: [Privately printed], 1870, →OCLC, page 64:
text: After a long day of walking, it was good just to sit and relax.
text: You're finishing the chowder if you sit there (motionless) all evening!
glosses: To be in a position in which the upper body is upright and supported by the buttocks.
raw_tags: of a person
examples: text: I asked him to sit.
glosses: To move oneself into such a position.
raw_tags: of a person
examples: text: The dishes are still sitting on the table!
text: The temple has sat atop that hill for centuries.
text: Jim's pet parrot sat on his left shoulder.
text: The Yellow Sea sits between the Korean Peninsula and China.
ref: 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: To occupy a given position.
raw_tags: of an object
examples: text: And Moses said to […] the children of Reuben, Shall your brothren go to war, and shall ye sit here?
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 32:6:
text: Like a demigod here sit I in the sky.
ref: 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]:
glosses: To remain in a state of repose; to rest; to abide; to rest in any position or condition.
examples: text: I currently sit on a standards committee.
topics: government
glosses: To be a member of a deliberative body.
examples: text: In what city is the circuit court sitting for this session?
topics: government
law
glosses: Of a legislative or, especially, a judicial body such as a court, to be in session.
examples: text: The calamity sits heavy on us.
ref: 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:
glosses: To lie, rest, or bear; to press or weigh.
examples: text: Your new coat sits well.
text: This new and gorgeous garment, majesty, / Sits not so easy on me as you think.
ref: 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]:
glosses: To be adjusted; to fit.
examples: text: How will this new contract sit with the workers?
text: I don’t think it will sit well.
text: The violence in these video games sits awkwardly with their stated aim of educating children.
glosses: To be accepted or acceptable; to work.
raw_tags: of an agreement or arrangement
examples: text: Sit him in front of the TV and he might watch for hours.
glosses: To cause to be seated or in a sitting posture; to furnish a seat to.
examples: text: The dining room table sits eight comfortably.
text: I sat me weary on a pillar's base, / And leaned against the shaft
ref: 1899, James Thomson, “The City of Dreadful Night”, in The City of Dreadful Night and Other Poems, page 43:
glosses: To accommodate in seats; to seat.
examples: text: I'm going to sit for them on Thursday.
text: I need to find someone to sit my kids on Friday evening for four hours.
text: I saw […] Mrs. Turman, who sometimes sat Billy when Steff and I went out […]
ref: 1980, Stephen King, The Mist, Viking Press:
text: 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.
ref: 2024 March 19, Faith Hill, “Don’t Tell America the Babysitter’s Dead”, in The Atlantic:
glosses: To babysit.
glosses: To take, to undergo or complete (an examination or test).
examples: text: The partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 17:11:
glosses: To cover and warm eggs for hatching, as a fowl; to brood; to incubate.
examples: text: I'm sitting for a painter this evening.
glosses: To take a position for the purpose of having some artistic representation of oneself made, such as a picture or a bust.
examples: text: like a good miller that knows how to grind, which way soever the wind sits
ref: 1689, John Selden, Table Talk:
text: Sits the wind in that quarter?
ref: 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:
glosses: To have position, as at the point blown from; to hold a relative position; to have direction.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1790, Amelia Opie, chapter 5, in Dangers of Coquetry, volume I:
glosses: To keep one's seat when faced with (a blow, attack); to endure, to put up with.
Synonyms: sense: be in a position in which the upper body is upright and the legs are supported
word: be seated
sense: move oneself into such a position
word: be seated
sense: move oneself into such a position
english: from a standing position
translation: from a standing position
word: sit down
sense: move oneself into such a position
english: from a prone position
translation: from a prone position
word: sit up
sense: move oneself into such a position
word: take a seat
sense: of an object: occupy a given position permanently
word: be
word: be found
word: be situate
sense: be accepted
word: be accept
sense: be accepted
word: be welcome
sense: be accepted
word: be well receive
sense: to accommodate in seats
word: seat
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: apartment-sit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: babysit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: besit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: catsit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: dogsit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: do not sit in Rome and strive with the Pope
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: face-sit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: fence-sit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: flat-sit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: where one is sitting
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: granny-sit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: house-sit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: if I fits, I sits
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: if it fits, I sits
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: is anyone sitting here
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: people sit on chairs
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: petsit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: plant-sit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: saw off the branch one is sitting on
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit about
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-and-go
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-and-wait predator
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit around
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit back
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit back on one's heels
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit by
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-by-the-fire
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit dead-red
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit down
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit for
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit idly by
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-in
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit in
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit in for
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit in judgement
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit in judgment
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-inner
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit in on
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit in the wheels
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit in with
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-lie
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit loose
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit loosely
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit off
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit on
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-on
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit on a tack
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit on death's doorstep
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit one's ass down
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit one's butt down
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit on it
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit on one's arse
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit on one's ass
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit on one's hands
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit on one's laurels
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit on someone's wheel
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit on the fence
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-on-top
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit out
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-out
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit over
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit right
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit shiva
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-ski
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-skier
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit still
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sittable
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit the fence
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit there like a lemon
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit through
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit tight
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sitting member
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sitting-out area
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sitting-rising test
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sitting-room
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sitting room
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sitting table
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sitting toilet
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sitting volleyball
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit under
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-up
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit up
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-up-and-beg
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit-upon
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit upon
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit up with
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit well
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: sit with
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: take sitting down
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: trip sit
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: unsittable
sense: Terms derived from sit (verb)
word: where you stand depends on where you sit