SEAT, noun [L. sedes, situs.]

1. That on which one sits; a chair, bench, stool or any other thing on which a person sits.

Christ--overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves. Matthew 21:12.

2. The place of sitting; throne; chair of state; tribunal; post of authority; as the seat of justice; judgment-seat.

3. Mansion; residence; dwelling; abode; as Italy the seat of empire. The Greeks sent colonies to seek a new seat in Gaul.

In Albe he shall fix his royal seat. Dryden.

4. Site; situation. The seat of Eden has never been incontrovertibly ascertained.

5. That part of a saddle on which a person sits.

6. In horsemanship, posture or situation of a perosn on horseback.

7. A pew or slip in a chruch; a place to sit in.

8. The place where a thing is settled or established. London is the seat of business and opulence. So we say, the seat of the muses, the seat of arts, the seat of commerce.

SEAT, verb transitive

1. To place on a seat; to cause to sit down. We seat ourselves; we seat our guests.

The guests were no sooner seated but they entered into a warm debate.

Arbuthnot.

2. To place in a post of authority, in office or a place of distinction. He seated his son in the professor's chair.

Then high was king Richard seated. Shak.

3. To settle; to fix in a particular place or country. A colony of Greeks seated themselves in the south of Italy; another at Massilia in Gaul.

4. To fix; to set firm.

From their foundations, loosening to and fro, They pluck'd the seated hills. Milton.

5. To place in a chruch; to assign seats to. In New England, where the pews in churches are not private property, it is customary to seat families for a year or longer time; that is, assign and appropriate seats to their use.

6. To appropriate the pews in, to particular families; as, to seat a church.

7. To repair by making the seat new; as, to seat a garment.

8. To settle; to plant with inhabitants; as, to seat a country. [Not used much.]

SEAT, verb intransitive To rest; to lie down. [Not in use.]