sit down

Formssits down, sitting down, sat down

1. 1
   phrasal verbintransitive

   To lower oneself from a standing position into a sitting one.

   He sat down heavily on the edge of the bed and pulled off his boots.

   Passengers must sit down before the bus can pull away from the curb.

   Oppositestand, rise

   Note

   The particle marks movement: sit can describe a state (she sat for an hour), but sit down is the change from standing. The past is sat down, with older forms on record: sate down in dated poetry and sitten down in archaic dialect. Tyndale's New Testament of 1526 already has publicans and sinners who "satt downe" with Jesus.

2. 2
   phrasal verbfigurativelyintransitive

   To meet with someone, often formally, in order to discuss, negotiate, or question.

   Union leaders will sit down with management next week to negotiate a new contract.

   Detectives sat down with the suspect for three hours but learned nothing new.

   Similarmeet, talk

3. 3
   noun · sit-downcountable

   An act of sitting down, whether simply to rest or together with others to talk.

   After four hours on her feet, she was more than ready for a sit-down.

   The two rival producers finally had a sit-down to settle their differences.

   Similarrest, break, meeting, talk

   Note

   The noun usually comes with have or need: you need a sit-down, or you have a sit-down with someone. It covers both a rest for tired legs and a talk across a table, the second a noun partner to meeting to talk things over; a sit-down between rivals promises a proper conversation rather than a chat.

4. 4
   adjective · sit-down

   Meant to be done, used, or eaten while seated, rather than standing or on the go.

   We skipped the food court and found a sit-down restaurant around the corner.

   Most of the guests preferred a sit-down dinner to a standing reception.

   Similarseated

   Oppositestanding

   Note

   The hyphen marks the change of job: people sit down, but they eat a sit-down meal at a sit-down restaurant. The adjective stands before its noun and gets its meaning from the contrast with eating on the go, as in "a proper sit-down meal, rather than just a sandwich on the go".

5. 5
   phrasal verbreflexivetransitive

   To make or help someone sit, or to give them a seat; used reflexively for seating oneself.

   The host sat the guests down at a long table under the trees.

   She sat herself down at the piano and began to play.

   Similarseat

   Note

   Older and poetic English made the reflexive with a plain pronoun: Carlyle's Past and Present (1843) has "I sat me down", and Housman will "sit me down and weep". Modern English adds -self, as in she sat herself down. The transitive use often announces a serious talk, as when two partners sat Sam Altman down and told him to slow down.

6. 6
   noun · sit-downcountable

   A form of protest in which people sit down in a place and refuse to move, as an act of civil disobedience.

   Workers staged a sit-down inside the factory, refusing to leave until their demands were met.

   Hundreds of protesters joined the sit-downs outside the embassy that weekend.

   Similarsit-in

   Note

   Sit-in names the same protest, but sit-down has a labor history of its own: Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States describes sit-downs that alarmed the system because the regular union leadership did not control them. Christopher Hitchens, in Hitch-22 (2010), recalls organizing one outside an Oxford hairdresser's that turned away black women.

7. 7
   phrasal verbintransitive

   To settle into a low or sunken position.

   The rear of the car sits down noticeably when the trunk is fully loaded.

   His drive sat down in a deep divot, leaving him an awkward lie.

   Similarsink, settle

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