sitting

English

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)

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.
A seance or other session with a medium or fortuneteller.
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
  "It's not always easy to get him, and of course a small fee, a guinea I think, is usual, but if you wanted a sitting I could work it." "You think him genuine?" Atkinson shrugged his shoulders.
A special seat allotted to a seat-holder, at church, etc.
The part of the year in which judicial business is transacted.
A legislative session (in the sense of "meeting", not "period").
The incubation of eggs by a bird.
A clutch of eggs laid by a brooding bird.
we have thirty-four chicks from eight sittings of eggs
Uninterrupted application to anything for a time; the period during which one continues at anything.

a period during which one is seated for a specific purpose

a legislative session

incubation of eggs; the clutch of eggs under a brooding bird

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

sitting (not comparable)

Executed from a sitting position.
Occupying a specific official or legal position; incumbent.
- 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist‎^[1], 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.
- 2022 April 8, John Lichfield, “Get ready for a scary fortnight in French politics: a Le Pen presidency really is possible”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:
  It is an iron rule of French politics that sitting presidents are detested.

sitting f (definite singular sittinga, indefinite plural sittingar, definite plural sittingane)