seat
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /siːt/
rhymes: -iːt
Forms: form: seats
Etymology: From Middle English sete, from Old English sǣte, possibly from (or simply cognate with) Old Norse sæti (“seat”), both from Proto-Germanic *sētiją (“seat”), from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”); compare Old English set (“seat”).
Sense 2 (“location or site”) is probably derived from Old English sǣte (“house”), which is related to Old High German sāza (“sedan, seat, domicile”).
Cognates
* Middle Dutch gesaete
* Old High German gisazi (modern German Gesäß)
Senses: examples: text: There are two hundred seats in this classroom.
text: The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;[…]. Our table in the dining-room became again the abode of scintillating wit and caustic repartee, Farrar bracing up to his old standard, and the demand for seats in the vicinity rose to an animated competition.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: […] Grand Union proposes making a seat part of the price of a ticket, with 50% refunds for those travelling for longer than 30 minutes unable to obtain a seat.
ref: 2019 October, “South Wales open access bid”, in Modern Railways, page 15:
glosses: Something to be sat upon.
A place in which to sit.
examples: text: He sat on the arm of the chair rather than the seat, which always annoyed his mother.
text: the seat of a saddle
glosses: Something to be sat upon.
The horizontal portion of a chair or other furniture designed for sitting.
examples: text: She pulled the seat from under the table to allow him to sit down.
glosses: Something to be sat upon.
A piece of furniture made for sitting, such as a chair, stool, or bench; any improvised place for sitting.
examples: text: Hey, fighter boy, our radar's putting out enough energy to launch your seat from this distance!
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
war
glosses: Something to be sat upon.
A piece of furniture made for sitting, such as a chair, stool, or bench; any improvised place for sitting.
An ejection seat.
examples: text: Instead of saying "sit down", she said "place your seat on this chair".
glosses: Something to be sat upon.
The part of an object or individual (usually the buttocks) directly involved in sitting.
examples: text: The seat of these trousers is almost worn through.
text: Several pressmen have nearly lost their lives, to say nothing of the seats of their trousers, from these creatures.
ref: 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed:
text: I love these new biker pants I bought! There's padding in the seat to protect my rear end.
ref: 2006 July 20, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):
glosses: Something to be sat upon.
The part of a piece of clothing (usually pants or trousers) covering the buttocks.
examples: text: The seat of the valve had become corroded.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: Something to be sat upon.
A part or surface on which another part or surface rests.
examples: text: Our neighbor has a seat at the stock exchange and in congress.
glosses: A location or site.
A membership in an organization, particularly a representative body.
examples: text: Washington D.C. is the seat of the U.S. government.
text: The K'o-tzu-lo-su Kirghiz chou bordered on the K'o-shih chuan-ch'ü and its seat at A-t'u-shih was only twenty-five kilometers from K'o-shih shih.
ref: 1963, Henry G. Schwarz, Policies and Administration of Minority Areas in Northwest China and Inner Mongolia, 1949-1959, volume 2, →OCLC, page 338:
text: But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure. Yet this is the level of organisation that does the actual thinking—and is, presumably, the seat of consciousness.
ref: 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
glosses: A location or site.
The location of a governing body.
glosses: A location or site.
An electoral district, especially for a national legislature.
qualifier: certain Commonwealth countries
examples: text: A man of fortune, who lives in London, may, in plays, operas, routs, assemblies, French cookery, French sauces, and French wines, spend as much yearly, as he could do, were he to live in the most hospitable manner at his seat in the country.
ref: 1806, William Cobbett, The Parliamentary History of England:
glosses: A location or site.
A temporary residence, such as a country home or a hunting lodge.
examples: text: Where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 2:13:
text: He that builds a fair house upon an ill seat committeth himself to prison.
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Building”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
text: a seat of plenty, content, and tranquillity
ref: 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:
text: I stopped taking the sweets and condiments I had got from home. The mind having taken a different turn, the fondness for condiments wore away, and I now relished the boiled spinach which in Richmond tasted insipid, cooked without condiments. Many such experiments taught me that the real seat of taste was not the tongue but the mind.
ref: 1927–1929, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, chapter XVII, in The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC:
glosses: A location or site.
The place occupied by anything, or where any person, thing or quality is situated or resides; a site.
topics: law
glosses: A location or site.
One of a series of departmental placements given to a trainee solicitor as part of their training contract.
glosses: A location or site.
Any of several autonomous regions in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary.
glosses: The starting point of a fire.
examples: text: She had so good a seat and hand she might be trusted with any mount.
ref: 1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter III, in Daniel Deronda, volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:
text: George was a perfect picture on horseback; he had a light, firm seat, and seemed as if he were a part of his horse, and was only happy when away in the saddle for hours together, mustering cattle or tracking a missing horse.
ref: 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 85:
glosses: Posture, or way of sitting, on horseback.
Hyponyms: airline seat
aisle seat
baby seat
back seat
banana seat
bead seat
bitch seat
bomber seat
booster seat
borough seat
box seat
bucket seat
car seat
catbird seat
child safety seat
country seat
county seat
cuddle-seat
death seat
driver's seat
driving seat
drop seat
ejection seat
ejector seat
Elijah seat
Elijah's seat
firing seat
flap seat
front seat
gunfighter seat
hot seat
jump seat
keyseat
leveling seat
love seat
mercy seat
mother-in-law seat
mourner's seat
nosebleed seat
overhang seat
parish seat
passenger seat
priority seat
ringside seat
rising seat
rout seat
rumble seat
saddle seat
safe seat
toilet seat
tree seat
whiskey seat
whisky seat
wiggle seat
window seat
Derived terms: auto safety seat
available seat-mile
back-seat
back-seat driver
back-seat game
back-seat gamer
bums in seats
bums on seats
car safety seat
chair seat
child seat
fly by the seat of one's pants
have a seat
have several seats
hunt seat
infant safety seat
infant seat
in the driver's seat
in the driving seat
in the hot seat
is this seat taken
municipal seat
on the edge of one's seat
safety seat
seat at the table
seatback
seat back
seat-belt
seat belt
seat belt syndrome
seatbox
seat cushion
seat earth
seater
-seater
seat filler
seat hogging
seating
seat lock
seat-mile
seat of ease
seat of government
seat-of-the-pants
seat only
seat post
seat rail
seat reservation ticket
seat sale
seat stay
seat time
seat tube
shooting seat
shower seat
take a back seat
take a seat
take one's seat
take the front seat
toddler seat
window-seat
would you mind putting on your seat belt