sit-down
adjEtymology Deverbal from sit down.
1
Intended to be done, used, consumed etc. while sitting.
- It's nice to have a proper sit-down meal, rather than just a sandwich on the go.
sit down
verbalso spelled sit-down7 senses
- 1To assume a sitting position from a standing position.
- 2To cause to be seated or in a sitting posture; to…
- 3To meet formally at a conference table.
- 4To meet with someone for discussions, negotiations or…
- 5To assume a low or sunken position.
- 6In Aboriginal use, to live or stay at (a place).
- 7To take up residence in or settle (an area).
1
To assume a sitting position from a standing position.
- Sit down! We have work to do.
- I sat down in the armchair, and my sis sat down on the floor.
4 more examples
- And lo / many publicans and ſynners / cam and ſatt downe alſo with Ieſus / and his diſciples.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew ix:[10], folio xj, recto:
- From thence he cometh forth again ⁊ ſitteth down vnder his cloth of eſtate.1560 September 25, Ihon Daus, transl., A Famouse Cronicle of Oure Time, Called Sleidanes Commentaries, Concerning the State of Religion and Common Wealth, […], London: […] Ihon Daye, for Abraham Veale, and Nicholas England, folio cccxij, verso:
- When ſhe knew this galley a farre of, ſhe lift vp a ſigne in the poope of her ſhippe, and ſo Antonius comming to it, was pluckt vp where Cleopatra was, howbeit he ſaw her not at his firſt comming, nor ſhe him, but went and ſate down alone in the prowe of his ſhippe, and ſaid neuer a word, clapping his head betwene both his hands.1579, Plutarke of Chæronea [i.e., Plutarch], “The Life of Marcus Antonius”, in Thomas North, transl., The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romaines, […], London: […] Richard Field, →OCLC, page 1001:
- Therfore where it is ſuppoſed that Chriſt and his Apoſtles miniſtred & receiued ſitting but by occaſion, and not of purpoſe: becauſe they were ſitting before in eating the paſſeover. wher as if Chriſt had ſitten down of purpoſ to adminiſter the cõmunion, then all that is ſaid is graunted to be ſome purpoſe.1605, [William Bradshaw], A Proposition. Concerning Kneeling in the Very Act of Receiuing Howsoever. […], page 13:
2
To cause to be seated or in a sitting posture; to furnish a seat to.
- Sit your ass down and shut up.
- I sat him down and explained to him how things truly work around here.
3 more examples
- Coming home, therefore, I sat me down secretly under the Shrine of St. Edmund, fearing lest our Lord Abbot should seize and imprison me.1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. 6, Monk Samson”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):
- Oh I will sit me down and weep / For bones in Africa.1922, A. E. Housman, Astronomy, lines 3–4:
- Two YC partners sat Altman down last year “and told him, ‘Slow down, chill out!’2016 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker:
3
Figuratively To meet formally at a conference table.
- Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:
4
Figuratively To meet with someone for discussions, negotiations or interrogation.
- I sat down with him about the allegations.
5
To assume a low or sunken position.
- The ball scooted off the fairway and sat down in the thick rough.
- As we all climbed aboard, the little boat sat down low in the water.
6
Australia In Aboriginal use, to live or stay at (a place).
- He ‘sat down’ for days, regaining his strength, quietly sizing up his little kingdom.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 27:
- ‘He sit down long time, plenty days, too quiet altogether. All a time he look out young lubra.’1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 126:
- Synonyms
- be seated, take a pew, take a seat
- Derived terms
- please sit down, sit-down money