sitting
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English sittyng, sittynge, equivalent to sit + -ing. Cognate with Dutch zitting (“a sitting, session”), German Sitzung (“a sitting, session”), Swedish sittning (“a sitting, session”).
Noun
sitting (plural sittings)
- A period during which one is seated for a specific purpose.
- Due to the sheer volume of guests, we had to have two sittings for the meal.
- The Queen had three sittings for her portrait.
- A seance or other session with a medium or fortuneteller.
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
- "It's not always easy to get him, and of course a small fee, a guinea I think, is usual, but if you wanted a sitting I could work it." "You think him genuine?" Atkinson shrugged his shoulders.
- A special seat allotted to a seat-holder, at church, etc.
- The part of the year in which judicial business is transacted.
- A legislative session (in the sense of "meeting", not "period").
- The incubation of eggs by a bird.
- A clutch of eggs laid by a brooding bird.
- we have thirty-four chicks from eight sittings of eggs
- Uninterrupted application to anything for a time; the period during which one continues at anything.
Derived terms
Translations
a period during which one is seated for a specific purpose
a legislative session
Etymology 2
From Middle English sittinge, sittynge, variant of sittinde, sittende, sittande, from Old English sittende (“sitting”), from Proto-Germanic *sitjandz (“sitting”), present participle of Proto-Germanic *sitjaną (“to sit”), equivalent to sit + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian sittend (“sitting”), Dutch zittend (“sitting”), German sitzend (“sitting”), Swedish sittande (“sitting”), Icelandic sitjandi (“sitting”).
Verb
sitting
- present participle and gerund of sit
Derived terms
Adjective
sitting (not comparable)
- Executed from a sitting position.
- Occupying a specific official or legal position; incumbent.
- 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
- Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
Derived terms
- non-sitting
- nonsitting
- sitting duck
- sitting service
- sitting tenant
References
- “sitting”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
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Alternative forms
Noun
sitting f (definite singular sittinga, indefinite plural sittingar, definite plural sittingane)
- the act of sitting
References
- “sitting” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
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