Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SIT'TING, n.

1. The posture of being on a seat.
2. The act of placing one's self on a seat; as, a sitting down.
3. The act or time of resting in a posture for painter to take the likeness. For a portrait, six or seven sittings may be required.
4. A session; the actual presence or meeting of any body of men in their seats, clothed with authority to transact business; as, a sitting of the judges of the king's bench; a sitting of the house of commons; during the sitting a the supreme court.
5. An uninterrupted application to business or study for a time; course of study unintermitted. For the understanding of any one of Paul's epistles, I read it through at one sitting. – Locke.
6. A time for which one sits, as at play, at work, or on a visit. – Dryden.
7. Incubation; a resting on eggs for hatching; as fowls. The male bird amuses the female with his songs, during the whole time of her sitting. Addison.