sit S1 W1 /sɪt/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle sat /sæt/, present participle sitting )
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: sittan ]
1 . IN A CHAIR ETC
a) ( also be sitting down ) [intransitive] to be on a chair or seat, or on the ground, with the top half of your body upright and your weight resting on your ↑ buttock s
sit on/in/by etc
I sat on the shore and looked at the sea.
She was sitting in a chair by the fire.
She’s the girl who sits next to me at school.
In the driving seat sat a man of average height.
sit at a desk/table etc (=sit facing it)
Jean sat at the table writing a letter.
sit doing something
They sat sipping their drinks.
We used to sit and listen to her for hours.
b) ( also sit down ) [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to get into a sitting position somewhere after you have been standing up:
He came over and sat beside her.
Sam sat opposite her and accepted a cigarette.
c) ( also sit somebody down ) [transitive always + adverb/preposition] to make someone sit, or help them to sit
sit somebody on/in etc something
I gently led her to the chair and sat her on it.
2 . OBJECTS/BUILDINGS ETC [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to be in a particular position or condition
sit on/in etc
a little church sitting on a hillside
The parliament building sits in a large square.
He’s got a computer sitting on his desk, but he doesn’t use it.
My climbing boots were sitting unused in a cupboard.
The house has sat empty for two years.
3 . DO NOTHING [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to stay in one place for a long time, especially sitting down, doing nothing useful or helpful:
I spent half the morning sitting in a traffic jam.
Well, I can’t sit here chatting all day.
Are you just going to sit there complaining?
4 . COMMITTEE/PARLIAMENT ETC [intransitive] to be a member of a committee, parliament, or other official group
sit in/on
They both sat on the management committee.
He was the first journalist to sit in parliament.
5 . MEETING [intransitive] to have a meeting in order to carry out official business:
The council only sits once a month.
The court will sit until all the evidence has been heard.
6 . ANIMAL/BIRD [intransitive always + adverb/preposition]
a) to be in, or get into, a resting position, with the tail end of the body resting on a surface:
The cat likes to sit on the wall outside the kitchen.
b) Sit! used to tell a dog to sit with the tail end of its body resting on the ground or floor
c) if a bird sits on its eggs, it covers them with its body to make the eggs ↑ hatch
7 . LOOK AFTER [intransitive + for] to look after a baby or child while its parents are out SYN babysit
8 . sit tight spoken
a) to stay where you are and not move:
Just sit tight – I’ll be there in five minutes.
b) to stay in the same situation, and not change your mind and do anything new:
We’re advising all our investors to sit tight till the market improves.
9 . be sitting pretty to be in a very good or favourable position:
We’ve paid off the mortgage, so we’re sitting pretty now.
10 . sit in judgment (on/over somebody) to give your opinion about whether someone has done something wrong, especially when you have no right to do this:
How can you sit in judgment on somebody you hardly know?
11 . not sit well/easily/comfortably (with somebody) if a situation, plan etc does not sit well with someone, they do not like it:
He had never before been accused of stealing, and it did not sit well with him.
12 . sit on the fence to avoid saying which side of an argument you support or what your opinion is about a particular subject:
The weakness of the book is that it sits on the fence on important issues.
13 . sit on your hands to delay taking action when you should do something:
Workers are losing their jobs while the government sits on its hands and does nothing.
14 . EXAMS [intransitive and transitive] British English to take an examination:
Tracy’s sitting her GCSEs this year.
sit for
They were preparing children to sit for the entry examination.
15 . PICTURE/PHOTO [intransitive] to sit somewhere so that you can be painted or photographed
sit for
She sat for (=was painted by) Holman Hunt and Millais.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adverbs
▪ sit still (=without moving)
Young children find it almost impossible to sit still.
▪ sit quietly (=without talking)
Mac sat quietly in the back of the car.
▪ be sitting comfortably
She was sitting comfortably on the sofa.
▪ sit up straight/sit upright (=with your back straight)
Sit up straight at the table, Maddie.
▪ sit bolt upright (=suddenly sit up very straight, for example because you hear something)
Suddenly she sat bolt upright and said, ‘What was that?’
▪ sit cross-legged (=with your legs bent and crossed over in front of you)
She sat cross-legged on the grass.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ sit to be resting your weight on your bottom somewhere, or to move into this position:
He was sitting in front of the fire.
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She sat on the bed and kicked off her shoes.
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Who is the man sitting next to Karen?
▪ sit down to sit on a chair, bed, floor etc after you have been standing:
I sat down on the sofa.
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Come in and sit down.
▪ be seated formal to be sitting in a particular chair or place:
John was seated on my left.
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There was a man seated behind the desk.
▪ take a seat to sit – used especially when asking someone to sit down:
Please take a seat – she will be with you in a minute.
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Would the audience please take their seats – the show will begin in five minutes.
▪ sink into something to sit in a comfortable chair and let yourself fall back into it:
We switched on the TV and sank into our armchairs.
▪ lounge to sit in a very comfortable relaxed way:
They lounged around all day by the pool.
▪ perch to sit on the edge of something:
He perched on the arm of the sofa.
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My sister was perched (=was sitting) on a high stool.
▪ be slumped to be sitting while leaning against something, especially because you are injured, drunk, or asleep:
They found him slumped against the steering wheel.
▪ squat to sit with your knees bent under you, your bottom just off the ground, balancing on your feet:
A little boy was squatting at the edge of the pool.
sit around ( also sit about British English ) phrasal verb
to spend a lot of time sitting and doing nothing very useful:
We sat around for a bit, chatting.
sit back phrasal verb
1 . to get into a comfortable position, for example in a chair, and relax:
Sit back and relax – I’ll open a bottle of wine.
2 . to relax and make no effort to get involved in something or influence what happens:
Don’t just sit back and wait for new business to come to you.
sit by phrasal verb
to allow something wrong or illegal to happen without doing anything about it:
I’m not going to sit by and watch a man go to prison for something I’ve done.
sit down phrasal verb
1 . to be in a sitting position or get into a sitting position:
It was good to be sitting down eating dinner with my family.
Sit down, Amy – you look tired.
sit yourself down
Sit yourself down and have a drink.
2 . sit somebody down to make someone sit down or help them to sit down
sit somebody down in/on
I helped her into the room and sat her down in an armchair.
3 . sit down and do something to try to solve a problem or deal with something that needs to be done, by giving it all your attention:
The three of us need to sit down and have a talk.
Sit down and work out just what you spend.
sit in phrasal verb
to be present at a meeting but not take an active part in it
sit in on
Would you like to sit in on some of my interviews?
sit in for somebody phrasal verb
to do a job, go to a meeting etc instead of the person who usually does it:
This is Alan James sitting in for Suzy Williams on the mid-morning show.
sit on something phrasal verb informal
to delay dealing with something:
I sent my application about six weeks ago and they’ve just been sitting on it.
sit something ↔ out phrasal verb
1 . to stay where you are and do nothing until something finishes, especially something boring or unpleasant:
She had two weeks to sit it out while she waited to hear if she had got the job.
She was prepared to sit out the years of Jack’s jail sentence.
2 . to not take part in something, especially a game or dance, when you usually take part:
Johnson sat out the game with a shoulder injury.
sit through something phrasal verb
to attend a meeting, performance etc, and stay until the end, even if it is very long and boring:
I wasn’t the least bit interested in all the speeches I had to sit through.
sit up phrasal verb
1 . to be in a sitting position or get into a sitting position after you have been lying down:
He was sitting up in bed, reading his book.
She sat up and reached for her glass.
2 . sit somebody up to help someone to sit after they have been lying down
sit somebody up in/on etc
I’ll sit you up on the pillows and you’ll be nice and comfortable.
3 . to sit in a chair with your back straight:
Just sit up straight and stop slouching.
4 . to stay up very late:
Sometimes we just sit up and watch videos all night.
5 . sit up (and take notice) to suddenly start paying attention to someone, because they have done something surprising or impressive:
If Maria succeeded, then everyone would sit up and take notice.