seats

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of seat.

   The front-row seats offered the best view of the stage.

   Several seats had been reserved for the visiting officials.

   Note

   A regular -s plural with a twin: the same spelling is also the verb form, as in a hall that seats two hundred. Context tells them apart. After an article, a number or a modifier, as in front-row seats, it is the noun. The plural also covers clothing, as in boys wearing through the seats of their trousers, where each pair has one seat and the count follows the trousers.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of seat.

   The host seats each guest according to a careful arrangement.

   The new stadium seats nearly eighty thousand spectators.

   Note

   Every use of the verb takes an object, so this form needs one after it: someone seats a guest, a committee seats a delegate, a mechanic seats a valve firmly in place. A person settling into a chair sits, or seats himself; the reflexive keeps the object the verb requires. Out of context, the spelling could just as well be the plural noun.

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