• Seat

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /siːt/
    • Rhymes: -iːt

    Origin

    From Middle English, from Old Norse sæti, from Proto-Germanic *sētiją; compare Old English set. Compare also Old High German gisazi (German Gesäß), Middle Dutch gesaete.

    Full definition of seat

    Noun

    seat

    (plural seats)
    1. Something to be sat upon.
      1. A place in which to sit.
        There are two hundred seats in this classroom.
        • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 8, The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;.... Our table in the dining-room became again the abode of scintillating wit and caustic repartee, Farrar bracing up to his old standard, and the demand for seats in the vicinity rose to an animated competition.
      2. The horizontal portion of a chair or other furniture designed for sitting.
        He sat on the arm of the chair rather than the seat, which always annoyed his mother.
        the seat of a saddle
      3. A piece of furniture made for sitting; e.g. a chair, stool or bench; any improvised place for sitting.
        She pulled the seat from under the table to allow him to sit down.
      4. The part of an object or individual (usually the buttocks) directly involved in sitting.
        Instead of saying "sit down", she said "place your seat on this chair".
      5. The part of a piece of clothing (usually pants or trousers) covering the buttocks.
        The seat of these trousers is almost worn through.
      6. (engineering) A part or surface on which another part or surface rests.
        The seat of the valve had become corroded.
      7. A location or site.
        1. (figurative) A membership in an organization, particularly a representative body.
          Our neighbor has a seat at the stock exchange and in congress.
        2. The location of a governing body.
          Washington D.C. is the seat of the U.S. government.
          • 2013-08-03, The machine of a new soul, But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure. Yet this is the level of organisation that does the actual thinking—and is, presumably, the seat of consciousness.
        3. (certain Commonwealth countries) An electoral district, especially for a national legislature.
        4. The place occupied by anything, or where any person or thing is situated or resides; a site.
          • Bible, Revelations ii. 13Where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is.
          • Francis Bacon (1561-1626)He that builds a fair house upon an ill seat committeth himself to prison.
          • Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859)a seat of plenty, content, and tranquillity
      8. The starting point of a fire.
      9. Posture, or way of sitting, on horseback.
        • George Eliot (1819-1880)She had so good a seat and hand she might be trusted with any mount.

    Derived terms

    Terms derived from seat

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To put an object into a place where it will rest; to fix; to set firm.
      • MiltonFrom their foundations, loosening to and fro,
        They plucked the seated hills.
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.
    2. Be sure to seat the gasket properly before attaching the cover.
    3. (transitive) To provide with places to sit.
      This classroom seats two hundred students.
      The waiter seated us and asked what we would like to drink.
      • ArbuthnotThe guests were no sooner seated but they entered into a warm debate.
      • Elizabeth Cady StantonHe used to seat you on the piano and then, with vehement gestures and pirouettings, would argue the case. Not one word of the speech did you understand.
    4. (transitive) To assign the seats of.to seat a church
    5. (transitive) To cause to occupy a post, site, or situation; to station; to establish; to fix; to settle.
      • ShakespeareThus high ... is King Richard seated.
      • Sir Walter RaleighThey had seated themselves in New Guiana.
    6. (obsolete, intransitive) To rest; to lie down.
    7. To settle; to plant with inhabitants.to seat a country
    8. To put a seat or bottom in.to seat a chair

    Anagrams

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