Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SIT, v.i. [pret. sat; old pp. sitten. Goth. sitan; Sax. sitan, or sittan; D. zitten; G. sitzen; Sw. sitta; Dan. sidder; L. sedeo; It. sedere; Fr. seoir, whence asseoir, to set or place, to lay, to assess, from the participle of which we have assise, assize, a sitting, a session, whence size, by contraction; W. seza, to sit habitually; sezu, to seat; gorsez, a supreme seat; gorsezu, to preside; Arm. aseza, diaseza, sizhea, to sit; Ir. suidhim, eisidhim, and seisim; Corn. seadha, to sit. It coincides with the Ch. and Heb. יסד and Heb. שית, to set, place or found, and perhaps with the Ar. سَدَّ sadda, to stop, close or make firm. See Class Sd, No. 31, 56. See Set. The Sp. sitiar, to besiege, is the same word differently applied.]

1. To rest upon the buttocks, as animals; as, to sit on a sofa or on the ground.
2. To perch; to rest on the feet; as fowls.
3. To occupy a seat or place in an official capacity. The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses's seat. Matth. xxiii.
4. To be in a state of rest or idleness. Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? Num. xxxii.
5. To rest, lie or bear on, as a weight or burden; as, grief sits heavy on his heart.
6. To settle; to rest; to abide. Pale horror sat on each Arcadian face. Dryden.
7. To incubate; to cover and warm eggs for hatching; as a fowl. As the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not. Jer. xvii.
8. To be adjusted; to be, with respect to fitness or unfitness; as, a coat sits well or ill. This new and gorgeous garment, majesty, / Sits not so easy on me as you think. – Shak.
9. To be placed in order to be painted; as, to sit for one's picture.
10. To be in any situation or condition. Suppose all the church lands to be thrown up to the laity; would the tenants sit easier in their rents than now? Swift.
11. To hold a session; to be officially engaged in public business; as, judges, legislators or officers of any kind. The house of commons sometimes sits till late at night. The judges or the courts sit in Westminster hall. The commissioners sit every day.
12. To exercise authority; as, to sit in judgment. One council sits upon life and death.
13. To be in any assembly or council as a member; to have a seat. 1 Macc.
14. To be in a local position. The wind sits fair. [Unusual.] To sit at meat, to be at table for eating. To sit down, to place one's self on a chair or other seat; as, to sit down at a meal. #2. To begin a siege. The enemy sat down before the town. #3. To settle; to fix a permanent abode. Spenser. #4. To rest; to cease as satisfied. Here we can not sit dawn, but still proceed in our search. Rogers. To sit out, to be without engagement or employment. [Little used.] Saunderson. To sit up, to rise or be raised from a recumbent posture. He that was dead sat up, and began to speak. Luke vii. #2. Not to go to bed; as, to sit up late at night; also, to watch; as, to sit up with a sick person.