# seat

Pronunciation: say "SEET" /siːt/

## Noun

1. A place for one person to sit, especially one in a theater, vehicle, stadium, or hall that can be taken, saved, or booked.
   - Simple: A place for one person to sit, such as on a train, on a plane, or in a theater.
   - _She offered her seat to the elderly passenger._
   - _Every seat in the theater had sold out by noon._
2. A position of membership in an organization, especially a representative body.
   - Simple: Membership in a group, especially one like a council whose members speak for other people.
   - _She won a seat on the board after years of loyal service._
   - _The investor demanded two seats on the board of directors._
3. Furniture designed to be sat on, such as a chair, bench, or stool, or any makeshift place where a person can sit.
   - Simple: A chair, stool, bench, or anything else used for sitting on.
   - _The old wooden seat by the fire was everyone's favorite spot._
   - _They dragged a few seats out onto the porch for the party._
4. The place where a governing body is based.
   - Simple: The place where a government or ruling group is based.
   - _For centuries the ancient city served as the seat of the empire._
   - _The capital remains the seat of the federal government._
5. An electoral district, especially one that returns a member to a national legislature.
   - Simple: A voting area that elects one member to a parliament.
   - _She held the rural seat for over twenty years before retiring._
   - _The opposition picked up several seats in the suburbs._
6. The horizontal part of a chair or other furniture that a person actually sits on.
   - Simple: The flat part of a chair or bench that you sit on.
   - _The chair's seat was woven from rushes in the traditional way._
   - _Thin cushions softened the hard wooden seats of the pews._
9. The place occupied by something, or where a person, thing, or quality is situated; a site.
   - Simple: The place where something is based, or where a quality or feeling lives.
   - _For centuries, the brain has been recognized as the seat of conscious thought._
   - _The seat of the infection was traced to a small cut on her foot._
12. The part of a person's body, usually the buttocks, that bears the weight in sitting.
   - Simple: The part of the body you sit on: the buttocks.
   - _The blow caught him off guard and he landed on his seat in the mud._
   - _The toddler bumped down the stairs on his seat, giggling all the way._
13. The part of a garment, usually pants, that covers the buttocks.
   - Simple: The part of pants that covers your bottom.
   - _The seat of his work pants had ripped after years of crouching._
   - _Grease had stained the seat of his uniform pants._
15. A large house in the country, especially the main home and estate of a landed family.
   - Simple: A big house in the country, often the main home of a rich, old family.
   - _The earl retreated to his northern seat whenever Parliament was not in session._
   - _Their ancestral seat stood empty for most of the year, opened only for the fall hunting season._
16. A surface or part shaped so that another part or surface rests firmly upon it.
   - Simple: A part or surface that another part rests on firmly.
   - _The engineer checked that the bearing sat squarely in its seat._
   - _A worn valve seat will let gas leak past the closed valve._
17. A rider's posture or way of sitting on horseback.
   - Simple: The way a rider sits on a horse.
   - _Years of training gave him a deep, secure seat._
   - _The judge marked her down for a loose seat over the fences._
18. The device in an aircraft that propels a crew member clear of the cockpit in an emergency. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In a military plane, the special chair that shoots a pilot out to safety in an emergency.
   - _The instant the cockpit filled with smoke, she fired the seat and parachuted to the ground._
   - _The canopy blew off a split second before the seat launched him into the night sky._
19. The point at which a fire starts and from which it spreads.
   - Simple: The exact spot where a fire first started.
   - _Investigators dug through the debris to locate the seat of the fire and determine its cause._
   - _The seat of the blaze was hidden deep within the wall cavity._

## Verb

7. To provide a person or group with a place to sit.
   - Simple: To give someone a place to sit.
   - _The new auditorium can seat over a thousand people._
   - _Organizers set up folding chairs on the lawn to seat the overflow crowd._
8. To show or direct people to a place to sit, or decide where each person in a group will sit.
   - Simple: To take people to their seats or tell them where to sit.
   - _The clerk seated the jurors and reminded them not to talk._
   - _Ushers will seat the audience promptly when the doors open._
10. To place someone or something firmly in a post, site, or position; to establish or settle.
   - Simple: To put someone or something firmly into a place, post, or position.
   - _With the old ruler gone, the nobles moved quickly to seat his young nephew on the throne before any rival could act._
   - _Superstitions that are deeply seated in a community can outlast generations of schooling._
11. To put an object firmly into the place where it rests and fix it in position.
   - Simple: To put something firmly into the place where it belongs.
   - _Make sure you seat the cartridge fully before sealing the housing._
   - _She seated the gemstone carefully into the ring's setting._
14. To formally recognize a person's right to take part in a meeting or assembly by granting them a seat.
   - Simple: To officially let someone join a meeting by giving them a place to sit and take part.
   - _The chamber moved to seat the contested delegates after reviewing their credentials._
   - _Officials refused to seat the representative until the dispute was resolved._
20. To fit a chair, stool, or similar item with a new seat or bottom.
   - Simple: To put a new seat or bottom into a chair or stool.
   - _Her grandfather taught her to seat old kitchen chairs with woven cane, a slow job that took him several evenings for each chair._
   - _The shop will seat each chair with hand-woven cane._

## Verb

21. To come to rest or to lie down. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To rest, or to lie down for a while.
22. To settle a region by establishing inhabitants there. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To fill an area with people who come to live there.

## Other meanings

- (noun) One of several departmental placements a trainee solicitor completes during a training contract.
- (noun) Any of several self-governing regions in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary.

## Origin

Middle English sete comes from Old English sǣte, which was possibly borrowed from Old Norse sæti ("seat") or is simply related to it; both trace back to Proto-Germanic *sētiją and the Proto-Indo-European root *sed- ("to sit"). The sense "location or site" probably comes from Old English sǣte in the meaning "house," a relative of Old High German sāza ("seat, domicile").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/seat (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).