sitting

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪtɪŋ/

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• Rhymes: -ɪtɪŋ
• Hyphenation: sit‧ting

From Middle English sittyng, sittynge, equivalent to sit +‎ -ing. Cognate with Dutch zitting (“a sitting, session”), German Sitzung (“a sitting, session”), Swedish sittning (“a sitting, session”).

sitting (plural sittings)

1. A period during which one is seated for a specific purpose.

   Due to the sheer volume of guests, we had to have two sittings for the meal.

   The Queen had three sittings for her portrait.

2. A special seat allotted to a seat-holder, at church, etc.
3. The part of the year in which judicial business is transacted.
4. A legislative session (in the sense of "meeting", not "period").
5. The incubation of eggs by a bird.
6. A clutch of eggs laid by a brooding bird.

   we have thirty-four chicks from eight sittings of eggs

7. Uninterrupted application to anything for a time; the period during which one continues at anything.

From Middle English sittinge, sittynge, variant of sittinde, sittende, sittande, from Old English sittende (“sitting”), from Proto-Germanic *sitjandz (“sitting”), present participle of Proto-Germanic *sitjaną (“to sit”), equivalent to sit +‎ -ing. Cognate with West Frisian sittend (“sitting”), Dutch zittend (“sitting”), German sitzend (“sitting”), Swedish sittande (“sitting”), Icelandic sitjandi (“sitting”).

sitting

1. present participle of sit

• sitting pretty

sitting (not comparable)

1. Executed from a sitting position.
2. Occupying a specific official or legal position; incumbent.
   • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:

     Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.

• sitting duck
• sitting tenant
• sitting service

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