sit, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sit v.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

sit-upon (n.)

the posterior, the buttocks.

1988

A. Hollinghurst Swimming Pool Library 37: ‘There are chaps who don't care for them, you know. Simply can't abide them. Can’t stand the sight of them, their titties and their big sit-upons, even the smell of them’ .

sit-upons (n.) [abbr. sit-down-upons under sit-down n.]

trousers.

1853		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. (Devon) 19 Feb. 6/2: Kerseymere sit-upons made precious loose in the leg.
1854		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) II 228: I should advise you, old fellow, to get your sit-upons seated with wash-leather.
1857		Notts. Guardian 24 Feb. 8/2: The high sheriff, whose servants’ upper dresses were decorated with gold lace, accompanied by [...] a gorgeous pair of crimson or scarlet ‘sit-upons’.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Little Mr. Bouncer 124: By his togs he looks like a parson; white choker, black coat and sit-upons.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1895		Portsmouth Eve. News 18 Dec. 3/6: An American saddle which is made of aluminium [...] felt parlous hard to the ‘sit-upons’.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 74: Sit Upons, trousers.
1898		Belfast News-Letter 11 Apr. 6/5: Trousers have their share of humorous names [...] ‘bags’ or ‘sit-upons’.
1928		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 7 Mar. 6/6: There was a time when to use the word trousers was almost an indication of a dirty mind. [...] They had been called [...] inexpressibles, indescribables, unwhisperables, mustn’t-mention-ems, sit-upons, sine qua nons, and unutterables.

In phrases

sit a woman (v.) [trans. use of SE sit, to sit someone down]

(US black) to entertain a woman.

1852		N&Q Ser. 1 IV 43: It is said a young man is sitting a young woman when he is wooing or courting her [F&H].
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

sit bitch (v.)

see under bitch n.¹

sit bodkin (v.)

see bodkin n.²

sit down

see separate entries.

sit eggs (v.) [the image of a hen awaiting her chicks]

to overstay one’s welcome.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

sit-’em-up guy (n.)

(S.Afr. Und.) a hold-up man.

1963

L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 107: A ‘sit ’em up guy’ is a hold-up man.

sit fat (v.)

see under fat adj.

sit in (v.) [one sits in the chair under chair n.]

(Aus.) to buy a round of drinks.

1983

J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 9: ‘Time for you to sit in, Journo Johnny [...] ‘Five lilies of pigs and a vodka’’.

sit-in-’ems (n.)

trousers.

1902		H. Baumann Londinismen (2nd edn).
1922		Joyce Ulysses 404: Don’t stain my brand new sitinems.

sit in the catbird seat (v.)

see in the catbird seat under catbird n.

sit in the garden with the gate unlocked (v.)

1. to conceive an illegitimate child.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

2. to catch a cold.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

sit in the plush (v.)

see under plush n.

sit like a toad on the chopping block (v.)

to sit badly on a horse.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1873		Sl. Dict.

sit-me-down (n.) (also sit-em-down)

the buttocks.

1866		Wild Boys of London I 247/1: A crash was heard, and he disappeared through the broken frame, pieces of the glass sticking in his sit-me-down.
1900		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 10 Oct. 1/3: Every Johnnie present envied the cut of the sit-em-down end of his pants.
1935		‘George Orwell’ Clergyman’s Daughter (1986) 173: Shift yourself, Daddy, and make room for my little sit-me-down.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 1073/2: late C.19–20.
1945		Yorks. Post 15 June 6/7: Our managing director came to work ona horse. It took him 3½ hours and a sore sit-me-down.
1948		I.L. Idriess Opium Smugglers 214: His sit-me-down was streaked with weals.
1967		G. Freeman Undergrowth of Lit. (1969) 83: A hairbrush hurts your bottom more than anything else as I can testify, since Mummy used one on my uncovered sit-me-down last year.
1974		Tampa Times (FL) 6 June 20/5: Even dresses with no waists at all don’t fit [...] across the back of my ‘sit-me-down’ .

sit off (v.)

(Aus. Und.) to place under surveillance, to stake out.

1993

Smith & Noble Neddy (1998) 192: He would point out the places that the different squads congregated at, the pubs they drank at. [...] I would spend part of each day sitting off these places just observing who they were so that I would know their faces if ever they tried to sit off me. [Ibid.] 224: Police had been tipped off and sat off the place. When the gang tried to do the robbery, police moved in and shot Butch dead.

sit on (v.)

see separate entry.

sit pad (v.)

see stand pad under pad n.¹

sit there with one’s finger up one’s ass (v.)

see under ass n.

sit up like jacky (v.)

see under jacky jacky n.

sit upon (v.)

see sit on v.

In exclamations

go sit on a tack! (also go sit on a tap! sit on a tack!)

a derisive response.

1909		Times Democrat (New Orleans, LA) 24 Oct. 34/5: ‘Aw, go sit on a tack,’ growled Peter.
1914		W.L. George Making of an Englishman III 317: ‘Do you mean that you won’t marry me?’ I asked increduously. ‘Oh, sit on a tack,’ said Maud.
1925		Akron Beacon Jrnl (OH) 22 June 4/3: Says his wife with a sneer, ‘You’d better go sit on a tack’.
1934		R.E. Howard ‘Guns of the Mountains’ in Action Stories May–June 🌐 ‘Go set on a tack,’ I snorted disgustedly. ‘Go catch your own thieves.’.
1936		J.T. Farrell World I Never Made 341: ‘Say, you go sit on a tack!’ Lizz rejoindered.
1943		El Paso Herald-Post (TX) 9 Sept. 10/7: ‘Why don’t you go sit on a tack, a sharp one?’.
1951		Traverse City Record-Eagle (MI) 13 Sept. 4/3: Ernest Hemingway [...] can go sit on a tack. Me, I can’t help feeling asorry for the bulls.
1969		Bennington Banner (VT) 27 June 4/6: The proper response is, of course, ‘Go sit on a tack’.
1975		McHenry Plaindealer (IL) 1 July 3/2: [A] childish hymn that advised the devil to go sit on a tack.
1999		Indianapolis Star (IN) 5 Dec. 50/3: The target of the retaliation is free to [...] tell anyone who doesn’t like it to go sit on a tack.
2000		J. Baker Chinese Girl (2001) 185: Her first impulse was to lose it, tell Beige to go sit on a tap.

sit on it/this (and rotate)! (also sit on it/that and spin! sit on it and swivel! ... and twirl! rotate on this!)

(US) a general excl. of abuse suggesting that a hard and painful object be thrust into the subject’s anus.

1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 195/1: Sit on it! (P) (Always spoken sharply or sarcastically) Keep it! Save it! Hoard it! [Note: This gross idiom is a favorite reply to convicts who are reluctant to lend or give when asked.].
1969		personal recollection.
1972		E. Grogan Ringolevio 235: Graham [...] raised his middle finger [...] inviting them all to ‘sit on this and rotate.’.
1976		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 5: sit on it – insulting expression, meaning stop complaining about me.
1982		T. Molloy Green Line 27: Hear that, you suburbanite assholes? A man. An out fucking-standing saint. So sit on it and rotate.
1986		S. King It (1987) 352: ‘Sit on this, dear heart,’ Bev said, and whipped the finger on them.
1987		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 7: sit on it – expression of contempt. Also sit on it and swivel.
1989		(con. 1960) P. Theroux My Secret Hist. (1990) 175: Muzzaroll stuck a finger up and said, ‘Rotate on this’.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 69: Tash [...] smiled broadly, before stabbing the air with a brutal finger. ‘Sit on that and spin,’ she advised them.
1996		M.R. Zubro Another Dead Teenager 31: ‘Why don’t you both sit on it and rotate?’ Fenwick suggested. Dwayne and Jennifer laughed condescendingly. ‘Don’t be offended,’ Dwayne said.
2001		S. King Dreamcatcher 571: I mean, sit on it and spin!
2006		T. Norman Wewoka Switch 143: ‘Sit on it and rotate,’ l said. Guys kid around that way.
[2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: Wee radge can go swivel].
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 116: Sit on it, Ma, he thought. Sit on it and spin.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 39: Middle fingers shot out of windows. Sit on it and twirl.

sit on it, Potsie! [Potsie Weber, a character in the 1970s Happy Days TV show; the names of other characters can be substituted]

(US black teen) a general excl. of dismissal or mockery.

[1979		Dly Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, NC) 28 Feb. 6/5: Battle [...] between the sit-coms that rely upon variations on the ‘sit-on-it-Potsie’.
1996		Sentinel (Carlisle, PA) 14 Nov. 36/1: He actually thought the Fonz was cool and said things like ‘it on it, Potsie!’.
2000		‘The Clinton Years’ May Anita’s Daily Show Page 🌐 Vance DeGeneres: Ah, America. Gas guzzlers, popular prime-time game shows, and that God-hating islander Fidel Castro, Well, if you think that I’m talking about the 1990s, you can ‘sit on it, Potsie’. The 90s were a carbon copy of the 50s, a perfect time in America.
2000		Onion’s Finest News Reporting 37: For example, I’ll be chiding one of my friends, saying, ‘Sit on it, Potsie’.
2005		Anniston Star (AL) 19 Dec. 15/7: [advert for lavatory seat] ‘Sit on it, Potsie!’.

sit on that and sing Danny Boy!

(Aus.) phr. of contemptuous dismissal, riposte.

1996

J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 198: ‘And chewy onyer boot. Because my brother-in-law Choko’s offered to train it for a whole year for essefay, man. And he says he won’t charge a zack. Not even for its chaff. So sit on that ‘n’ sing ‘Danny Boy’, babies!’.