| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| seat |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  s t |
| NOUN: | 1. Something, such as a chair or bench, that may be sat on. 2a. A place in which one may sit. b. The right to occupy such a place or a ticket indicating this right: got seats for the concert. 3. The part on which one rests in sitting: a bicycle seat. 4a. The buttocks. b. The part of a garment that covers the buttocks. 5a. A part serving as the base of something else. b. The surface or part on which another part sits or rests. 6a. The place where something is located or based: The heart is the seat of the emotions. b. A center of authority; a capital: the county seat. See synonyms at center. 7. A place of abode or residence, especially a large house that is part of an estate: the squire's country seat. 8. Membership in an organization, such as a legislative body or stock exchange, that is obtained by appointment, election, or purchase. 9. The manner of sitting on a horse: a fox hunter with a good seat. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: seat·ed, seat·ing, seats
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1a. To place in or on a seat. b. To cause or assist to sit down: The ushers will seat the members of the bride's family. 2. To provide with a particular seat: The usher seated me in the back row. 3. To have or provide seats for: We can seat 300 in the auditorium. 4. To install in a position of authority or eminence. 5. To fix firmly in place: seat an ammunition clip in an automatic rifle. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To rest on or fit into another part: The O-rings had not seated correctly in their grooves. | | IDIOM: | by the seat of (one's) pants Slang 1. In a manner based on intuition and experience rather than method: He ran the business by the seat of his pants. 2. Without the use of instruments: an inexperienced pilot who had to fly the aircraft by the seat of her pants. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English sete, probably from Old Norse sæti. See sed- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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