sitter

See also: Sitter

English

Etymology

From Middle English sitter, sittere, syttare, equivalent to sit +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪtə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪtɚ/, [ˈsɪɾɚ]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)

Noun

sitter (plural sitters)

1. Someone who sits, e.g. for a portrait.
   • 2017 September 10, Nigel Warburton, “What does a portrait of Erica the android tell us about being human?”, in The Observer‎^[1]:

     The photograph caused a stir last week because it was shortlisted for the National Portrait Gallery’s prestigious Taylor Wessing prize, despite the rule that “all photographs must have been taken by the entrant from life and with a living sitter”.
     However realistic Erica may be, and to me she looks more like a sex doll than a real person, she was certainly not a living sitter.

2. One employed to watch or tend something; a babysitter, housesitter, petsitter, etc.

   It's always such a pain to get a sitter on short notice.

   • 2024 March 19, Faith Hill, “Don’t Tell America the Babysitter’s Dead”, in The Atlantic‎^[2]:

     Those domestic worries came through in pop-culture depictions of the sitter. In the midst of the 1960s sexual revolution, she was often portrayed as a temptress, seducing fathers when mom was away; in the ’70s, she started showing up in horror movies, trapped with a killer in the house and kids to protect […]

3. A participant in a séance.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     "The sitters had better just take their own places," said the medium.

4. A broody hen.
5. (soccer, snooker, cricket, slang) A very easy scoring chance.

   How could he miss that? It was an absolute sitter!

   • 2015 April 18, Paul Wilson, The Guardian‎^[3]:

     Aaron Ramsey, a hero last season against Hull, missed a sitter at the end of normal time that would have made the game safe and must have been relieved that his shot against a post from four yards out did not cost his side more dearly.

Derived terms

• aisle sitter
• babysitter
• bedsitter
• bed-sitter
• catsitter
• dogsitter
• fence sitter
• fence-sitter
• granny-sitter
• hand-sitter
• homesitter
• house-sitter, house sitter
• petsitter
• pole-sitter
• puppysitter
• sitter-in
• trip sitter
• window sitter

 

Related terms

• Irish setter
• seater
• setter
• sitting duck

 

Translations

someone who sits, e.g. for a portrait

• Dutch: zitter (nl) m, model (nl) n
• Hungarian: modell (hu)

one employed to watch or tend something; a babysitter, housesitter, petsitter, etc.

• Hungarian: gondozó (hu), ápoló (hu), betegápoló (hu), bébiszitter (hu)

participant in a séance

• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} résztvevő (hu)

broody hen

• Hungarian: kotlós (hu)

Anagrams

• streit, Tetris, titers, triest, titres, triset, Strite, tirest, triste, trites, tretis

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

sitter

1. present of sitte

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

sitter

1. (non-standard since 2012) present tense of sitje

Swedish

Verb

sitter

1. present indicative of sitta

Anagrams

• istret, triste