to rest with the body supported by the buttocks or thighs; be seated.
2.
to be located or situated: The house sits well up on the slope.
3.
to rest or lie (usually fol. by on or upon): An aura of greatness sits easily upon him.
4.
to place oneself in position for an artist, photographer, etc.; pose: to sit for a portrait.
5.
to remain quiet or inactive: They let the matter sit.
6.
(of a bird) to perch or roost.
7.
(of a hen) to cover eggs to hatch them; brood.
8.
to fit, rest, or hang, as a garment: The jacket sits well on your shoulders.
9.
to occupy a place or have a seat in an official assembly or in an official capacity, as a legislator, judge, or bishop.
10.
to be convened or in session, as an assembly.
11.
to act as a baby-sitter.
12.
(of wind) to blow from the indicated direction: The wind sits in the west tonight.
13.
to be accepted or considered in the way indicated: Something about his looks just didn't sit right with me.
14.
Informal. to be acceptable to the stomach: Something I ate for breakfast didn't sit too well.
–verb (used with object)
15.
to cause to sit; seat (often fol. by down): Sit yourself down. He sat me near him.
16.
to sit astride or keep one's seat on (a horse or other animal): She sits her horse gracefully.
17.
to provide seating accommodations or seating room for; seat: Our dining-room table only sits six people.
18.
Informal. to serve as baby-sitter for: A neighbor can sit the children while you go out.
—Verb phrases
19.
sit down,
a.
to take a seat.
b.
to descend to a sitting position; alight.
c.
to take up a position, as to encamp or besiege: The military forces sat down at the approaches to the city.
20.
sit in,
a.
to attend or take part as a visitor or temporary participant: to sit in at a bridge game; to sit in for the band's regular pianist.
b.
to take part in a sit-in.
21.
sit in on, to be a spectator, observer, or visitor at: to sit in on classes.
22.
sit on or upon,
a.
to inquire into or deliberate over: A coroner's jury was called to sit on the case.
b.
Informal. to suppress; silence: They sat on the bad news as long as they could.
c.
Informal. to check or rebuke; squelch: I'll sit on him if he tries to interrupt me.
23.
sit out,
a.
to stay to the end of: Though bored, we sat out the play.
b.
to surpass in endurance: He sat out his tormentors.
c.
to keep one's seat during (a dance, competition, etc.); fail to participate in: We sat out all the Latin-American numbers.
24.
sit up,
a.
to rise from a supine to a sitting position.
b.
to delay the hour of retiring beyond the usual time.
c.
to sit upright; hold oneself erect.
d.
Informal. to become interested or astonished: We all sat up when the holiday was announced.
—Idioms
25.
sit on one's hands,
a.
to fail to applaud.
b.
to fail to take appropriate action.
26.
sit pretty, Informal. to be in a comfortable situation: He's been sitting pretty ever since he got that new job.
27.
sit tight, to bide one's time; take no action: I'm going to sit tight till I hear from you.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME sitten, OE sittan; c. D zitten, G sitzen, ON sitja; akin to Goth sitan, L sedére, Gk hézesthai (base hed-); cf. set, sedate, cathedral, nest]
Sitting Bull, c.1831-1890, Native American chief, Sioux leader in the battle of the Little Bighorn. He rose to prominence in the Sioux warfare against the whites and the resistance of the Native Americans under his command to forced settlement on a reservation led to a punitive expedition. In the course of the resistance occurred the Native American victory on the Little Bighorn, where George Armstrong Custer and his men were defeated and killed on June 25, 1876. Sitting Bull and some of his followers escaped to Canada, but returned (1881) on a promise of a pardon and were settled on a reservation. In 1885 he appeared in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, but his championship of the Native American cause was not at an end. He encouraged the Sioux to refuse to sell their lands, and he advocated the ghost dance religion. He was killed by Native American police on a charge of resisting arrest. He was buried in North Dakota, but in 1954 his remains were removed to South Dakota.
See J. M. Carroll, ed., The Arrest and Killing of Sitting Bull: A Documentary (1986); biographies by S. Vestal (rev. ed. 1957, repr. 1972); A. B. Adams (1973); K. B. Smith (1987).
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