sitting definition

1. The state or act of one who sits; the posture of one who occupies a seat.

2. A seat, or the space occupied by or allotted for a person, in a church, theater, etc.; as, the hall has 800 sittings.

3. The act or time of sitting, as to a portrait painter, photographer, etc.

4. The actual presence or meeting of any body of men in their seats, clothed with authority to transact business; a session; as, a sitting of the judges of the King's Bench, or of a commission. "The sitting closed in great agitation." (Macaulay)

5. The time during which one sits while doing something, as reading a book, playing a game, etc. "For the understanding of any one of St. Paul's Epistles I read it all through at one sitting." (Locke)

6. A brooding over eggs for hatching, as by fowls. "The male bird . . . Amuses her [the female] with his songs during the whole time of her sitting." (Addison) Sitting room, an apartment where the members of a family usually sit, as distinguished from a drawing-room, parlor, chamber, or kitchen.

(01 Mar 1998)