sit on, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sit on v.

also sit down on, sit upon

1. to squash, to snub.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 231: SIT UPON, to overcome or rebuke, to express contempt for a man in a marked manner.
1870		Sportsman (London) 30 Apr. 4/1: Granted that a certain number of poor people are inmates of a workhouse, is it seemly that they should either be ‘sat upon’ or mocked.
1871		L.H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 47: Sit on, to silence, thwart, crush, annihilate.
1880		Trollope Duke’s Children (1954) 205: Experience had taught him that the less people demanded the more they were sat upon.
1881		Northern Trib. (Cheboygan, MI) 5 Nov. 3/1: That’s ‘small potatoes’ and if I was his landlord I’d ‘sit down on him’.
1888		‘’Arry at a Radical Reception’ in Punch 12 May 219/1: ‘You shut up, Tommy Trotter!’ I sez. I could see he was fair on the froth, / And jest wanted sitting on sharp.
1889		C. Deveureux Venus in India I 38: He would be only delighted to get a chance of sitting on you, and he will be able to do so if you don’t report yourself before dark.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 6 Jan. 5/5: I’d [...] put on orful airs wen the Sidney people tried to sit on me, as they’d be sure to do .
1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 15: sit on, or sit down on To squelch, to reprimand; to discourage.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Aug. 13/1: Donald Macdonald offered to go with the naval men to China, in the interests of the Melb. Argus, but editor Willoughby promptly sat upon the proposal.
1905		Sporting Times 15 Apr. 1/5: A correspondent suggests that Winston Churchill’s initials are a prophecy that he must inevitably be sat upon.
1917		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘Sitting in Judgement’ in Three Elephant Power 94: The fat man sat on him heavily. ‘You don’t call that pace, do you?’ he said. ‘He was going dead slow.’.
1919		J. Buchan Mr Standfast (1930) 512: Tombs kept interrupting me with imbecile questions, and I had to sit on him.
1940		Davis & Dollard Children of Bondage 124: He says, ‘What colored people do is to sit down on you and as soon as one man tries to do anything, he doesn't have a single friend to help him.
1958		(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 165: Had to sit on the gooks. They was hot to trot.
1986		J. Ellroy Suicide Hill 206: [T]here was no mention of the hottest trio in L.A. history—Duane Rice, Bobby and Joe Garcia. Gaffaney and his hot dogs were sitting on the information.

2. (UK police) to subject to surveillance; either visual or via a telephone wiretap.

1953		E. Reid Shame of N.Y. 22: Instead of sending out wiretappers to ‘sit’ on suspected phones, the telephone company would merely switch calls, made from and to bookie joints, to McDonald’s probe HQ.
1967		Werthman & Pillavin ‘Gang Members & the Police’ in Bordua Police 77: ‘[T]he police are still sitting on you as long as you’re there watching every move you make’ .
1976		R. Daley To Kill a Cop 123: As a young detective Eischied had many times sat on a place. He had sat in blinds like this one, and in parked cars, and in empty apartments.
1978		R. Daley Prince of the City 194: ‘Louie, we ain’t got you good, we got you beautiful. All you fucking clowns talk too much. We’ve been sitting on your telephone for a month’.
1987		M. McAlary Buddy Boys 34: One of them mentioned that they had been sitting on Magno’s house all day, waiting for him to come out.
1994		M. McAlary Good Cop Bad Cop 115: I am sitting on all of their houses, all of the time, watching.
2004		(con. 1994) J.A. Juarez Brotherhood of Corruption 183: ‘[S]ome lame-ass, white motherfuckin’, thick-necked tac boys [...] were sitting on (conducting surveillance on) the corner’.
2016		Barer et al. Betrayal in Blue 139: [W]e sat on the block until the White Rabbit came home and we got his address.
2020		Woods & Soderburg I Got a Monster 13: Jenkins said he would call a sergeant from the Northeast District and tell him to go sit on the other house.

In phrases

sit on oneself (v.)

(US) to calm down, to quieten down.

1886		Times (Phila., PA) 18 Jan. 3/3: ‘Ah, there, Jersey! go sit on yourself’ was the reply.
1894		S. Crane in N.Y. Press 9 Dec. in Stallman (1966) 112: Well, den, go sit on yerself.
1896		S. Crane George’s Mother (2001) 86: Gee, you fellahs er making a row. It’s time fer me t’shut up th’ front th’ place, an you mugs better sit on yerselves.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

sit (on) a beast (v.)

see under beast n.

sit (on) a dago (v.)

see sit a beast under beast n.

sit on chrome (v.)

see under chrome n.

sit on dubs (v.)

see under dubs n.³

sit on it (v.)

to stay, to wait.

1933

‘Paul Cain’ Fast One (1936) 253: Tell that cab driver to sit on it - we’ll be out in a little while.

sit on one’s ass (v.) (also sit on one’s arse, …butt, …stern, …tail) [ass n. (2)/butt n.¹ (1a)/stern n. (1)/tail n. (1)]

(US) to be idle when one has responsibilities to carry out.

1929		D. Parker ‘Big Blonde’ in Penguin Dorothy Parker (1982) 190: What am I expected to do—sit around this dump on my tail all night?
1936		V. Spivey ‘Sweet Pease’ 🎵 I don’t want no man layin’ around on the grass / All you want to do is just sit on your — [i.e. ass].
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 79: Here’s Dick and me been sitting on our sterns all day waiting for the cow, and he don’t show up.
1942		H. Ranfurly diary 2 Jan. in To War With Whitaker (1994) 117: Too many senior officers are sitting on their arses at GHQ.
1951		J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 39: Neither of us felt like sitting around on our ass all night.
1959		E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 140: Let’s just sit on our butts.
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 18: What I’m doing right now is sitting on my ass in me and Shake’s palatial suite here at the Beverly Stars Hotel.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 392: The searchers were sadly out of shape, accustomed to sitting on their butts.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 190: sit on one’s arse Being lazy. ANZ.

sit on penniless bench (v.) [SE penniless bench, a small bench provided for passing poor travellers; the first was at Carfax, Oxford, adjoining the church]

to be impoverished.

1580		Lyly Euphues and his England (1916) 224: He was entangled with women, entrapped, deceived, that every stool he sat on was penniless bench, that his robes were in rages.
1632		Massinger City-Madam IV i: Bid him bear up, he shall not Sit long on penniless-bench.
1834		(ref. to 1584) Oxford U. & City Herald 12 Apr. 1/4: In 1584 [...] the Vice-Chancellor [ordered] that ‘no schollars shall sit on bulkes or Penniless Bench’.
1856		Saunders’s News-Letter 4 Feb 1/6: Till lately every lad who matriculated at Oxford had to swear that he would not play marbles in the street, sit on Penniless Bench, or wear long hair.

sit on someone’s face (v.)

for a woman, to position her vagina directly above her partner’s mouth, either lit. sitting or squatting above their face, in order to facilitate cunnilingus; also used, as a synon. for enjoying fellatio, by men; thus male aggressive retort sit on my face!

1964		in Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) II 640: You got to sit sit sit, sit on my face, / Honey, sit sit sit, sit on my face.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 33: to suck a penis [...] sit on a face (camp).
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 101: Which would you rather do – sit on your ass in home-room or sit on Barbara Berkowitz’s face?
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 66: ‘You know how to play carnival?’ ‘I don’t know that one, no.’ ‘I sit on your face and you try to guess my weight.’.
1977		(con. 1969) M. Herr Dispatches 190: Oh . . . man! She can sure come sit on my face anytime. Any . . . time.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 61: Them lames wouldn’t know a fine fox if she sat on their face.
1983		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 5: sit on my face – get lost (an aggressive, macho expression).
1989		D. Waters Heathers [film script] I’d pay Madonna a million bucks to sit on my face and have her ride like the Kentucky derby.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 97: Oohh [...] I vish she’d come and zit on my face.
1993		A. Rodriguez Spidertown (1994) 68: Wanda had come in looking for a face to sit on.
1997		Solar Project ‘Zeitgest’ 🎵 on ...in Time [album] You sit on my face, I dine at your Y / Blow job, gob job, sixty-eight / You feed your face and eat my meat / My fist into your Dead End Street.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 190: sit on my face Request for cunnilingus, or just being crude rude. ANZ.
2006		thelondonpaper 4 Sept. 32: A man in a van tooted his horn, rolled down his window, stuck his head out and shouted, ‘Oi, sweetheart, wanna sit on my face?’.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 91: I see these losers letting one of these women probably been fucked half a dozen times before noon, they let them sit on their face.

sit on the throne (v.)

see under throne n.