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sitting

 
(sĭt'ĭng) pronunciation
n.
  1. The act or position of one that sits.
  2. A period during which one is seated and occupied with a single activity, such as posing for a portrait or reading a book.
  3. A session, as of a legislature or court.
    1. An act, condition, or period of brooding on eggs by a bird; incubation.
    2. The number of eggs under a brooding bird; a clutch.
adj.
  1. Incubating a nest of eggs: a sitting hen.
  2. Occupying an official position; incumbent.
    1. Of or for sitting: a sitting posture; a sitting area in a bus station.
    2. Done or executed while sitting.

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adj

Definition: sedentary
Antonyms: standing

Word Tutor:

sitting

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: The act of being at rest with the weight on one's buttocks.

pronunciation Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. — Warren Buffett, American businessman.

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Sitzender Junge ("Sitting boy") by Werner Stötzer, 1956

Sitting is a rest position supported by the buttocks or thighs where the torso is more or less upright.

Contents

Types of sittings

Sitting on the floor

The Japanese tea ceremony is performed sitting in seiza.

The most common way of sitting on the floor involves bending the knees. One can also sit with the legs unbent, using something solid as support for the back or leaning on one's arms.

Sitting with bent legs can be done along two major lines; one with the legs mostly parallel and one where they cross each other. The parallel position is reminiscent of, and is sometimes used for, kneeling. The latter is a common pose for meditating.

Parallel legs

  • Seiza (正座?) "correct sitting" is a Japanese word which describes the traditional formal way of sitting in Japan. Sitting in seiza is kneeling on one's own lower legs, with the feet under the buttocks, toes pointed backwards. To sit in seiza for any length of time requires careful positioning of the heels under the sit bones of the hip, to minimize circulation loss. A related position is kiza (跪座?), which differs in the tops of the feet being raised off the ground.
  • Vajrasana (Diamond Pose) is a yoga posture (asana) similar to seiza.

Cross-legged

  • A common cross-legged position is with the lower legs folded towards the body, crossing each other at the ankle or calf, with both ankles on the floor, sometimes with the feet tucked under the knees or thighs. The position is known in several European languages as tailor style, from the traditional working posture of tailors;[1] compare tailor's bunion. It is also named after various plains-dwelling nomads: in English Indian style, in many European languages "Turkish style", and in Japanese agura (胡座 The sitting style of non-Han ethnics (particularly Turks, Mongols and other Central Asians.)?). In yoga it is known as sukhasana.
  • The lotus position involves resting each foot on the opposite thigh so that the soles face upwards. If only one foot is brought into this position, it is called a half-lotus position. This position is common in yoga and meditation.
  • The Burmese position, named so because of its use in Buddhist sculptures in Burma, places both feet in front of the pelvis with knees bent and touching the floor to the sides. The heels are pointing toward pelvis or upward, and toes are pointed so that the tops of the feet lie on the ground. This looks similar to the cross legged position, but the feet are not placed underneath the thigh of the next leg, therefore the legs do not cross. Instead, one foot is placed in front of the other. This is a popular sitting alternative for those less comfortable with the use of the Lotus or half Lotus positions in meditation and yoga.
  • Zazen, the Japanese word for "sitting meditation", is a form of meditation rather than a particular posture. During zazen, practitioners may assume a lotus, half-lotus, Burmese, or seiza position.

Sitting on a raised seat

A man sitting in Brooklyn, New York.
Woman sitting astride a cannon.
Women reclining in chairs. Painting by Jean-François de Troy.

Most raised surfaces at the appropriate height can be used as seats for humans, whether they are made for the purpose, such as chairs, stools and benches, or not. While the buttocks are nearly always rested on the raised surface, there are many differences in how one can hold one's legs and back.

There are two major styles of sitting on a raised surface. The first has one or two of the legs in front of the sitting person; in the second, sitting astride something, the legs incline outwards on either side of the body.

The feet can rest on the floor, or on a footrest, which can keep them vertical, horizontal, or at an angle in between. They can also dangle if the seat is sufficiently high. Legs can be kept right to the front of the body, spread apart, or one crossed over the other.

The upper body can be held upright, recline to either side or backwards, or one can lean forward.

Posture

Back of a sitting nude by School of Rembrandt.

Alice, the protagonist of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, is representative of children who were once admonished to "sit up straight." [2]

Recent studies indicate, however, that sitting upright for hours causes increased stress on the back, and may be a cause of chronic back pain. Researchers have found that a "135-degree back-thigh sitting posture" was the best posture to avoid back problems—that is, leaning back in the chair 45 degrees. Researchers found that the 90-degree position contributed most to strain on the spine, neck included, while the 135-degree position was the most relaxed.[3]

Optimal posture while sitting is now referred to as neutral spine.[4]

Variations

Variations of the above include an aside variant with the legs resting above and beside the armrests, or the anti-authoritarian posture of reversing the chair and one's legs in front of the back of the chair.

Kneeling chairs

The Kneeling chair (often just referred to as "ergonomic chairs"), was designed to encourage better posture than the conventional chair. To sit in a kneeling chair one rests one's buttocks on the upper sloping pad and rests the front of the lower legs atop the lower pad, i.e., the human position as both sitting and kneeling at the same time.

In mythology

In various mythologies and folk magic, sitting is a magical act that connects the person who sits, with other persons, states or places where he/she sat.[5]

Sitting defecation posture

The sitting defecation posture involves sitting with hips and knees at approximately right angles, as on a chair. Most Western-style flush toilets are designed to be used with a sitting posture.[6] The sitting posture is more widespread in the Western world, and less common in the developing world. Toilet seats are a recent development, only coming into widespread use in the nineteenth century.[7]

Health effects of sitting

Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ The Art of the Cut
  2. ^ Alice In Wonderland - The Victorian World
  3. ^ "Sitting straight 'bad for backs'". BBC News. 2006-11-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6187080.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  4. ^ http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article183.html
  5. ^ Čajkanović, Veselin; Živković, Marko (translator) (1996). "Magical Sitting". Anthropology of East Europe Review 14 (1). http://condor.depaul.edu/~rrotenbe/aeer/aeer14_1/zivkovic.html. Retrieved 2007-07-09. "It is obvious from all the above that sitting, seen from the viewpoint of the history of religion, could be a magical act which, within the framework of analogic magic, will establish a certain relationship, a covenant." 
  6. ^ Sikirov, Dov, MD (1990): "Cardio-vascular events at defecation: are they unavoidable?" Medical Hypotheses, 1990, Jul; 32(3): 231-3.
  7. ^ A History of Technology, Vol.IV: The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1850. (C. Singer, E Holmyard, A Hall, T. Williams eds) Oxford Clarendon Press, pps. 507-508, 1958
  8. ^ Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, MSc, BSc*,*, Mark Hamer, PhD, MSc, BSc* and David W. Dunstan, PhD, BAppSc, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events J Am Coll Cardiol, 2011; 57:292-299

Translations:

Sitting

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - møde, siddeplads, rugetid
adj. - siddende, som ligger på rede

idioms:

  • sitting duck    taknemligt offer
  • sitting pretty    have sit på det tørre
  • sitting room    opholdsstue
  • sitting target    taknemligt offer
  • sitting tenant    nuværende lejer

Nederlands (Dutch)
zitting, vergadering, ronde, zittend

Français (French)
n. - (Admin, Art, Phot) séance, service, couvaison
adj. - assis, (Agric) couveuse

idioms:

  • sitting duck    cible ou victime facile
  • sitting pretty    belle allure
  • sitting room    salon
  • sitting target    (lit, fig) cible facile
  • sitting tenant    (Jur) locataire dans les lieux

Deutsch (German)
n. - Sitzung, Sitzen
adj. - sitzend, brütend

idioms:

  • sitting duck    leichtes Ziel
  • sitting pretty    ausgesorgt haben
  • sitting room    Wohnzimmer
  • sitting target    leichtes Ziel
  • sitting tenant    derzeitiger Mieter

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - καθιστή στάση, σειρά ομαδικής εξυπηρέτησης (σε εστιατόριο κ.λπ.), ποζάρισμα (για πορτρέτο κ.λπ.), φορά, δόση, συνεδρία, κλώσημα
adj. - καθιστός, καθιστικός, τωρινός

idioms:

  • sitting duck    εύκολος στόχος
  • sitting pretty    εξασφάλιση, σιγουριά
  • sitting room    καθιστικό, καθημερινό δωμάτιο, θέσεις καθημένων (σε αίθουσα, όχημα κ.λπ.)
  • sitting target    εύκολος στόχος
  • sitting tenant    τρέχων ενοικιαστής στο μίσθιο

Italiano (Italian)
udienza, in carica

idioms:

  • sitting duck/target    bersaglio facile
  • sitting pretty    in situazione vantaggiosa
  • sitting room    salotto
  • sitting tenant    locatario

Português (Portuguese)
n. - ato (m) de sentar-se, reunião (f), ninhada (f) de ovos
adj. - sentado, em repouso, no choco

idioms:

  • sitting duck/target    alvo (m) /presa (f) fácil
  • sitting pretty    estar em posição favorável
  • sitting room    sala (f) de estar
  • sitting tenant    inquilino (m)

Русский (Russian)
сидение, заседание, сеанс, высиживание цыплят, яйца под наседкой, сидячее место, работа приходящей няни, смена, сидящий, сидячий, занимающийся чем-л., нынешний, беззащитный

idioms:

  • sitting duck/target    легкая добыча, легко поражаемая цель
  • sitting pretty    находиться в выигрышном положении
  • sitting room    гостиная, место для сидения
  • sitting tenant    съемщик квартиры с защищенными правами

Español (Spanish)
n. - audiencia, sesión, sesión del tribunal
adj. - sentado

idioms:

  • sitting duck    presa fácil, blanco facilísimo
  • sitting pretty    posición favorable
  • sitting room    sala de estar, salón
  • sitting target    blanco facilísimo
  • sitting tenant    inquilino con derecho a propiedad

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - sittande, sittning, posering, sammanträde, ruvning, liggtid
adj. - sittande, tjänsteförrättande, ruvande

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
入席, 开庭, 就坐, 坐着的, 在任期中的, 就座的

idioms:

  • sitting duck    易被击中的目标, 易被欺骗的对象
  • sitting pretty    处于极为有利的地位
  • sitting room    起居室
  • sitting target    容易击中的目标
  • sitting tenant    已经租用房子的人, 合法的租户

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 入席, 開庭, 就坐
adj. - 坐著的, 在任期中的, 就座的

idioms:

  • sitting duck    易被擊中的目標, 易被欺騙的物件
  • sitting pretty    處於極為有利的地位
  • sitting room    起居室
  • sitting target    容易擊中的目標
  • sitting tenant    已經租用房子的人, 合法的租戶

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 착석, (선내의) 식사 시간, (교회의) 일정한 좌석
adj. - 좌위의, 재직의, 알을 품고 있는

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 座ること, 着席, ひと仕事, 座っている時間, 一回の食事, 開会, 会期, 抱卵, 一回の抱卵数
adj. - 座っている, 抱卵中の, 現職の, 現住の

idioms:

  • sitting duck    楽な目標, かも
  • sitting duck/target    楽な目標, かも
  • sitting pretty    成功して, 有利な立場にいて
  • sitting room    居間
  • sitting tenant    現在借用中の入居者, 現借家人

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) جلسه أو وضعه أمام ألمصور, جلسه, حضن أنثى ألطائر لبيضها, جلسه محكمه أو مجلس تشريعي (صفه) حاضنه, حاكم‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮ישיבה, מושב, הסבה לסעודה, דגירה, מדגר-ביצים‬
adj. - ‮יושב/ת, דוגרת‬


 
 

 

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American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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 Rhymes. Oxford University Press. © 2006, 2007 All rights reserved.  Read more
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