seat Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a space reserved for sitting (as in a theater or on a train or airplane)
    place.
    • he booked their seats in advance
    • he sat in someone else's place
  2. noun the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on
    bum; stern; keister; tail end; prat; bottom; rear end; buns; tail; tush; rump; fanny; ass; behind; tooshie; hind end; posterior; hindquarters; butt; nates; rear; arse; buttocks; backside; derriere; can; fundament.
    • he deserves a good kick in the butt
    • are you going to sit on your fanny and do nothing?
  3. noun furniture that is designed for sitting on
    • there were not enough seats for all the guests
  4. noun any support where you can sit (especially the part of a chair or bench etc. on which you sit)
    • he dusted off the seat before sitting down
  5. noun a center of authority (as a city from which authority is exercised)
  6. noun the location (metaphorically speaking) where something is based
    • the brain is said to be the seat of reason
  7. noun the legal right to sit as a member in a legislative or similar body
    • he was elected to a seat in the Senate
  8. noun a part of a machine that supports or guides another part
  9. noun the cloth covering for the buttocks
    • the seat of his pants was worn through
  10. verb show to a seat; assign a seat for
    sit down; sit.
    • The host seated me next to Mrs. Smith
  11. verb be able to seat
    • The theater seats 2,000
  12. verb place ceremoniously or formally in an office or position
    invest; induct.
    • there was a ceremony to induct the president of the Academy
  13. verb put a seat on a chair
  14. verb provide with seats
    • seat a concert hall
  15. verb place or attach firmly in or on a base
    • seat the camera on the tripod
  16. verb place in or on a seat
    • the mother seated the toddler on the high chair

WordNet

Seat noun
Etymology
OE. sete, Icel. sæti; akin to Sw. säte, Dan. sæde, MHG. s&amac;ze, AS. set, setl, and E. sit. See Sit, and cf. Settle, n.
Definitions
  1. The place or thing upon which one sits; hence; anything made to be sat in or upon, as a chair, bench, stool, saddle, or the like.
    And Jesus . . . overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves. Matt. xxi. 12.
  2. The place occupied by anything, or where any person or thing is situated, resides, or abides; a site; an abode, a station; a post; a situation.
    Where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. Rev. ii. 13.
    He that builds a fair house upon an ill seat committeth himself to prison. Bacon.
    A seat of plenty, content, and tranquillity. Macaulay.
  3. That part of a thing on which a person sits; as, the seat of a chair or saddle; the seat of a pair of pantaloons.
  4. A sitting; a right to sit; regular or appropriate place of sitting; as, a seat in a church; a seat for the season in the opera house.
  5. Posture, or way of sitting, on horseback.
    She had so good a seat and hand she might be trusted with any mount. G. Eliot.
  6. (Mach.) A part or surface on which another part or surface rests; as, a valve seat.
Seat transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Seated; present participle & verbal noun Seating
Definitions
  1. To place on a seat; to cause to sit down; as, to seat one's self.
    The guests were no sooner seated but they entered into a warm debate. Arbuthnot.
  2. To cause to occupy a post, site, situation, or the like; to station; to establish; to fix; to settle.
    Thus high . . . is King Richard seated. Shak.
    They had seated themselves in New Guiana. Sir W. Raleigh.
  3. To assign a seat to, or the seats of; to give a sitting to; as, to seat a church, or persons in a church.
  4. To fix; to set firm.
    From their foundations, loosening to and fro, They plucked the seated hills. Milton.
  5. To settle; to plant with inhabitants; as to seat a country. Obs. W. Stith.
  6. To put a seat or bottom in; as, to seat a chair.
Seat intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To rest; to lie down. Obs. Spenser.

Webster 1913