American Dictionary of the English Language

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Sitting


SIT'TING, participle present tense

1. Resting on the buttocks, or on the feet, as fowls; incubating; brooding; being in the actual exercise of authority, or being assembled for that purpose.

2. adjective In botany, sessile.

SIT'TING, noun

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 a painter or 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 of 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

6. A time for which one sits, as at play, at work or on a visit.

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