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SITTING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of assuming or maintaining a seated position
Example:
he read the mystery at one sitting
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("sitting" is a kind of...):
motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)
Derivation:
sit (be seated)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(photography) the act of assuming a certain position (as for a photograph or portrait)
Example:
he wanted his portrait painted but couldn't spare time for the sitting
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("sitting" is a kind of...):
motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)
Domain category:
photography; picture taking (the act of taking and printing photographs)
Derivation:
sit (assume a posture as for artistic purposes)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A session as of a legislature or court
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("sitting" is a kind of...):
session (a meeting for execution of a group's functions)
Derivation:
sit (be in session)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A meeting of spiritualists
Example:
the seance was held in the medium's parlor
Synonyms:
seance; session; sitting
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("sitting" is a kind of...):
get together; meeting (a small informal social gathering)
Meronyms (parts of "sitting"):
spirit rapping; table rapping; table tapping (alleged form of communication with spirits of the dead)
table lifting; table tilting; table tipping; table turning (manipulation of a table during a seance; attributed to spirits)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(of persons) having the torso erect and legs bent with the body supported on the buttocks
Example:
the audience remained seated
Synonyms:
seated; sitting
Classified under:
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not moving and therefore easy to attack
Example:
a sitting target
Classified under:
Similar:
nonmoving; unmoving (not in motion)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb sit
Context examples:
The first said, “Who has been sitting on my stool?”
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
The Scarecrow went in and found the little man sitting down by the window, engaged in deep thought.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
But I'll not keep you sitting up late to-night, said she; it is on the stroke of twelve now, and you have been travelling all day: you must feel tired.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
"That's evident," returned Aunt March, sitting down.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
When we reached the edge of the cliff I looked over and saw our good old black Zambo sitting smoking on a rock below us.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The window at which he stood was at the other end of the room from where the two ladies were sitting, and though nearer to Captain Wentworth's table, not very near.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
In addition, the researchers focused on the hours spent sitting, but did not ask participants if they took breaks during this time.
(Sitting Is Bad for Your Brain, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
He was sitting beside her, quite beside her, and the boat seemed to tilt her toward him.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Perhaps you are not sitting in this room, and I am not sitting by you.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
At last I beheld several animals in a field, and one or two of the same kind sitting in trees.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
