sit 
sat (formerly sitten), ppr. sitting. [Early mod. 
E. also sitt, Kitte, sijt, syttc ; < lSE.fitten, sytteit 
(pres. ind. 3d pers. sitt'etli, xitt, nit, pret. nut, set, 
sat, pi. seten, seeten, setteu, sete, pp. siten, seten), 
< AS. sittan (pret. uset, pi. sseton, pp. seten) = 
OS. sittiiiH, sittean = OFries. sitta = MD. sitti-n, 
D. -it ten = MLG. LG. sitten = OHG. /."</, '-- 
re, MHG. G. a/fcrew = Icel. /(/' = 8w. *Wte = 
Dan. sidile = Goth, sitan (pret. sa, pi. efwi, pp. 
sitans) = L. aedere (> It. scdere = Cat. geurer, 
OCat. seser, awre = Pr. rarer, cercr, scj'r = OF. 
sedeir, seeir, seoir, P. raot'r) = Gr. e&aQai (ei-), 
sit, = OBulg. sicrliti, siedicti, sietlati, siesti = 
Bohem. setlati = Pol. siedzicc = Russ. sidietl 
(Slav. V sad, rarf, a/erf, send) = Lith. sedeti, sit, 
= Ir. v s '"' (sddti, sitting), = Skt. V /, sit. 
From this root are numerous derivatives ; from 
theTeut. are seat, set 1 , settle^, beset, inset, onset, 
outset, etc. (see also saddle) ; from the L. (sedere) 
are ult. sedent, sedentary, sedate, sediment, ses- 
sile, session, siege, besiege, etc., preside, reside, 
subside, supersede, dissident, resident, resiant, 
assiduous, insidious, assess, possess, residue, sub- 
sidy, also seize, aeaa 1 , assise, size 1 , size 2 , sizar, 
etc. The Gr. root (e^eadai) is involved in E. ca- 
thedral, chair, chaise, etc., octahedron, polyhe- 
dron, tetrahedron, etc. The forms of sit, partly 
by phonetic confluence and partly by mere con- 
fusion, have been more or less mixed with those 
of set 1 . The pret. silt, formerly also sate and set 
(cf. eat (et), ate, pret. of eat), is still in dial, use 
often set, and corruptly sot; the pp., prop, sitten 
(ME.sitett, seten, AS. seten), is also by loss of the 
pp. suffix set, or by confusion with the pret. also 
sat, the pp. set being now usually regarded as 
belonging only to set, the causal of sit.'} I. in- 
trans. 1. To take or have such a posture that 
the back is comparatively erect, while the rest 
of the body bends at the hips and generally at 
the knees, to conform to a support beneath ; 
rest in such a posture ; occupy a seat : said of 
persons, and also of some animals, as dogs and 
cats. 
With the quene whan that he had sete. 
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1109. 
'Twas in the Bunch of Grapes, where indeed you have a 
delight to tit, have you not? Shak., II. for M., ii. 1. 134. 
Heat, ma'am ! ... it was so dreadful here that I found 
there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and 
lit in my bones. Sydney Smith, in Lady Holland, I. 267. 
2. To crouch, as a bird on a nest; hence, to 
brood; incubate. 
The partridge sittethon eggs, and hatcheth them not. 
Jer. ivii. 11. 
3. To perch in a crouching posture ; roost : 
said of birds. 
The stockdove unalarm'd 
Sits cooing in the pine-tree. 
Cowper, Task, vl. 308. 
4. To be or continue in a state of rest; remain 
passive or inactive; repose. 
Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here ? 
Num. xxxii. 6. 
We have sitten too long ; it is full time we were travel- 
ling. Rev. T. Adamt, Works, II. 47. 
Ye princes of the earth, ye sit aghast 
Amid the ruin which you yourselves have made. 
Shelley, Revolt of Islam, xl. 15. 
5. To continue in a position or place ; remain ; 
stay ; pass the time. 
Elyng is the halle vche daye in the wyke, 
There the lorde ne the lady liketh noujte to sytte. 
Piers Plouman (B), x. 94. 
6. To be located; have a seat or site; be 
placed; dwell; abide. 
Turn thanne thi riet ahoute til the degree of thi sonne 
sit upon the west orisonte. Chaucer, Astrolabe, ii. 7. 
Love sits in her smile, a wizard ensnaring. 
Burns, True Hearted was He. 
Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles 1 
Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 1. 
7. To have a certain position or direction ; be 
disposed in a particular way. 
Sits the winde there? blowes there so calme a gale 
From a contemned and deserued anger? 
Chapman, All Fools (Works, 1873, 1. 123). 
The soile [is] drie, barren, and miserably sandy, which 
flies in drifts as the wind sits. Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 18, 1671. 
8. To rest, lie, or bear (on) ; weigh; be carried 
or endured. 
Woe doth the heavier sit 
Where it perceives it is but faintly borne. 
Shak., Rich. II., i. 3. 280. 
You cannot imagine how much more you will have of 
their flavour, and how much easier they will sit upon your 
stomach. W. King, Art of Cookery, Letter v. 
9. To be worn or adjusted ; fit, as a garment ; 
hence used figuratively of anything assumed, 
as an air, appearance, opinion, or habit. 
5(559 
Well, may you see things well done there : adieu ! 
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new ! 
Shalt., Macbeth, ii. 4. 38. 
Art thou a knight? did ever on that sword 
The Christian cause sit nobly ? 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, iv. 2. 
Her little air of precision sits so well upon her. 
Scott, Kenilworth, vli. 
Mrs. Htelling . . . was a woman whose skirt sat well ; 
who adjusted her waist and patted her curls with a pre- 
occupied air when she inquired after your welfare. 
George Eliot, Mill on the Bloss, ii. 4. 
10t. To be incumbent ; lie or rest, as an obli- 
gation; be proper or seemly ; suit; comport. 
Hit sittes, me semeth, to a sure knyghte, 
That ayres into vnkoth lond auntres to seche, 
To be counseld in case to comfford hym-seluyn 
Of sum fre that hyni faith awe, & the fete knoweth. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 530. 
But as for me, I seye that yvel it sit 
To essaye a wyf whan that it is no nede, 
And putten her in anguish and in drede. 
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 404. 
It sitteth with you now to call your wits and senses to- 
gither. Spenser, To Gabriel Harvey. 
lit. To abide; be confirmed; prosper. 
Thou . . . seidest to me mi preyere scholde sitte. 
Joseph ofArimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 8. 
12. To place one's self in position or in readi- 
ness for a certain end : as, to sit for one's por- 
trait ; to sit for an examination, or for a fellow- 
ship in a university. 
This day I began to sit, and he [Hale] will make, I think, 
a very flue picture. P epys, Diary, II. 368. 
We read that James the Second sat to Varelst, the great 
flower painter. Xacaulay, Pilgrim's Progress. 
13. To be convened, as an assembly; hold a 
session ; be officially engaged in deliberative or 
judicial business. 
You of whom the senate had that hope, 
As, on my knowledge, it was in their purpose 
Next sitting to restore you. 
B. Jonson, Catiline, Hi. 2. 
Convocation during the whole reign site at the same time 
with the parliament, and generally the Friday in each 
week, sometimes the Tuesday also, is marked by adjourn- 
ment that the prelates may attend convocation. 
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 270. 
14. To occupy a seat in an official capacity; be 
in any assembly as a member; have a seat, as 
in Parliament; occupy a see (as bishop). 
Gyve In commission to some sadd father which was 
brought up in the said Universitie of Oxford to syt ther, 
andexamyne. . . the novicyes which be not yet throughly 
cankerd in the said errors [doctrines of Luther). 
Abp. Warham, To Cardinal Wolsey(1521). (Ellis's Hist. 
[Letters, 3d ser., I. 241.) 
Stigand the Simonious Archbishop, whom Edwardmuch 
to blame had suffered many years to sit Primate in the 
Church. Milton, Hist. Eng., vi. 
15. To crack off and subside without breaking, 
as a mass of coal after holing and removal of 
thesprags. Gresley. [Midland coal-fields. Eng.] 
To Sit akneet. Same as to sit on the knees. to Bit at 
chambers. See chamber. To sit belo w the gangway. 
See gangway, 2. To Sit bodkint. See bodkinl. To sit 
Close or closely tot, to devote one's self closely to ; at- 
tend strictly to. 
The turne that I would have presently served is the get- 
ting of one that hath already been tryed in transcribing of 
manuscripts, and will sitt close to worke. 
Abp. Ussher, To Sir R. Cotton (1625). (Ellis's Literary 
[Letters, p. 132.) 
To Sit down, (a) To take a seat ; place one's self in a sit- 
ting posture. (6) To establish one's self ; settle. 
The Braintree company (which had begun to sit down 
at Mount Wollaston) by order of court removed to New- 
town. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 104. 
(c) Milit., to encamp, especially for the purpose of be- 
sieging ; begin a siege. 
The Earl led his Forces to Monteguillon, and sat down 
before it, which after five Months Siege he took. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 181. 
(d) To cease from action ; pause ; rest. 
Here we cannot sit down, but still proceed in our search. 
Dr. J. Rogers. 
(et) To yield passively ; submit as if satisfied ; content 
one's self. 
Can it be 
The prince should sit down with this wrong? 
Fletcher (and another), Queen of Corinth, i. 1. 
To Sit in. (at) To take part, as in a game. 
We cannot all sit in at them [the proposed games] ; we 
shall make a confusion. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1. 
(i>) To adhere firmly to anything. HalKwell.To sit in 
judgment. See judgment. To sit loose or loosely, to 
DC indifferent. [Rare. ] 
Jesus loved and chose solitudes, often going to moun- 
tains, gardens, and sea-sides, to avoid crowds and hurries, 
to shew his disciples it was good to be solitary, and sit 
loose to the world. Penn, Rise and Progress of Quakers, vi. 
To sit on or upon. (<i) To hold a session regarding ; con- 
sider or examine in ofllcial meeting : as, the coroner's 
jury sat on the case. 
So the Men were brought to examination ; and they that 
sat upon them asked, Whence they came ? whither they 
went? Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 156. 
Sitaris 
We have passed ten evenings on the Colchester elec- 
tion, and last Monday sat upon it till near two in the 
morning. n'alpole, Letters, II. 424. 
(6) To quash ; check ; repress, especially by a snub, 
[slang.] To sit on brood t. See brood'. To sit on 
one's knees, to kneel. [Obsolete or provincial.) 
When they cam to the hill againe, 
The[y] sett donne one thair kneel. 
Battle ofDalrinnes (Child's Ballads, VII. 229). 
I protest, Rutland, that while he sat on his knees before 
me ... I had much ado to forbear cutting him over the 
pate. Scott, Kenilworth, xxxii. 
In Durham sitting on thelmees is an expression still used 
for kneeling. 
Myrc's Instructions far Parish Priests (E. E. T. S.), Notes, 
[p. 74. 
To sit out, to make one's self an exception ; take no part, 
as in a game, dance, practice, etc. 
I bring my zeal among you, holy men ; 
If I see any kneel, and I sit out, 
That hour is not well spent. 
Middleton (and another), Mayor of Queenborough, L 2. 
I hope, Mr. Faulkland, as there are three of us come on 
purpose for the game, yon won't be so cantankerous as 
to spoil the party by sitting out. Sheridan, Rivals, v. S. 
To Sit under, to attend the preaching of ; be a member 
of the congregation of ; listen to. 
There would then also appear In pulpits other visages, 
other gestures, and stuff otherwise wrought than what we 
now sit under, oft times to as great a trial of our patience 
as any other that they preach to us. 
Milton, Education. (Dames.) 
At this time he "sat (in puritanical language) under the 
ministry of holy Mr. Gifford." Southey, Bunyan, p. 25. 
To sit up. (a) To lift the body from a recumbent to a 
sitting posture. 
He that was dead eat up, and began to speak. 
Luke vii. 15. 
She heard, she moved, 
She moan'd, a folded voice ; and up she sat. 
Tennyson, Princess, v. 
(6) To maintain a sitting posture ; sit with the back com- 
paratively erect; not to be bedridden. 
There were many visitors to the sick-room, . . . and 
there could hardly be one who did not retain in after years 
a vivid remembrance of the scene there of the pale 
wasted form in the easy-chair (for he sat up to the last). 
George Eliot, Janet's Repentance, xxvii. 
(c) To refrain from or defer going to bed or to sleep. 
He studied very hard, and sate up very late ; commonly 
till 12 or one o'clock at night. Aubrey, Lives, Milton. 
My dear father often told me they sat up always until 
nine o'clock the next morning with Mr. Fox at Brooke's. 
Thackeray, Pendennis, xxxix. 
Hence (d) To keep watch during the night or the usual 
time for sleeping : generally followed by mth. 
Let the nurse this night sit up leith you. 
Shak.,R. and J., iv. 3. 10. 
To sit upon one's sklrtst. See Otirti. 
II. trans. 1. To have or keep a seat upon. 
He could not sit his mule. Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 2. 16. 
She set her horse with a very graceful air. 
Steele, Tatler, No. 248. 
2. To seat: chiefly in reflexive use. 
The kyng syttyng hym selfe, & his sete helde : 
He comaund for to cum of his kynd sons. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2564. 
Here on this molehill will I sit we down. 
SAfl*.,3Hen. VI., ii. 5.14. 
3f. To rest or weigh on; concern; interest; 
affect ; stand (in expense) ; cost. 
Oure sorowe wole than sitte us so soore 
Oure stomak wole no mete fonge. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 80. 
We ban a wyndowe a wirchyng [making] wil sitten vs ful 
heigh. Piers Plouman (B), iii. 48. 
4. To be incumbent upon ; lie or rest upon ; 
be proper for; suit; become; befit. 
It rittw youe to sette it aside. York Plays, p. 362. 
She . . . couthe make in song sich refreyninge ; 
It sat hir wonder wel to synge. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 750. 
It sets not the duke of Gordon's daughter 
To follow a soldier lad. 
The Duke of Gordon's Daughter (Child's Ballads, IV. 105). 
5. To fit, as a garment. [Bare.] 
Thiennette is this night, she mentions, for the first 
time, to put on her morning promenade-dress of white 
muslin, as also a satin girdle and steel buckle ; but, adds 
she, it will not sit her. 
Carlyle, tr. of Richter's Quintus Fixlein. 
sit (sit), n, [<sit,r. Cf.se* 1 , .] A subsidence 
or fall of the roof of a coal-mine. 
Sita (se'ta), M. [Skt. sitd, furrow.] In Hindu 
myth,, the wife of the hero-god Kama, and hero- 
ine of the Ramayana. 
Sitana (si-ta'na), . [NL. (Cuvier, 1829) ; from 
an E. Ind. name.] A genus of agamoid lizards 
of the family Anamidss, containing two Indian 
species, with long limbs, five toes before and 
four behind, carinate scales, and in the male a 
large plicated appendage of the throat. 
Sitaris (sU'a-ris), . [NL. (Latreille, 1802).] A 
genus of blister-beetles of the family Cantha- 
