Dictionary

sitter en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• [ˈsɪɾɚ] (General-American)
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈsɪtə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈsɪtɚ/ (General-American)

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. Someone who sits, e.g. for a portrait.
   • 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. 2017 September 10, Nigel Warburton, “What does a portrait of Erica the android tell us about being human?”, in The Observer:
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.
   • 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[…] 2024 March 19, Faith Hill, “Don’t Tell America the Babysitter’s Dead”, in The Atlantic:
3. A sitting room.
4. A participant in a séance who is not a medium.
   • "The sitters had better just take their own places," said the medium. 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:
5. A broody hen.
6. (slang) A very easy scoring chance.
   • 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. 2015 April 18, Paul Wilson, The Guardian:
   • How could he miss that? It was an absolute sitter!
7. Someone who accompanies a person who is taking a psychedelic drug, to provide reassurance in case of a bad trip.

Forms

Coordinates

bedsit

Deriveds

bysitter · window sitter · sitter-in · aisle sitter · homesitter · dogsitter · childsitter · trip sitter · house-sitter · polesitter · nonsitter · birdsitter · fence sitter · hand-sitter · petsitter · bedsitter · puppysitter · house sitter · fence-sitter · pole-sitter · teen-sitter · tailsitter · catsitter · granny-sitter · bed-sitter · babysitter · facesitter · pigsitter

Relateds

setter · Irish setter · seater · sitting duck

Translations (14)

pl uczestniczka seansu (participant in a séance) · hu kotlós (broody hen) · pl kura gotowa do lęgu (broody hen) · hu ápoló (one employed to watch or tend something; a babysitter, housesitter, petsitter, etc.) · nl model (someone who sits, e.g. for a portrait) · hu gondozó (one employed to watch or tend something; a babysitter, housesitter, petsitter, etc.) · pl opiekunka (one employed to watch or tend something; a babysitter, housesitter, petsitter, etc.) · pl uczestnik seansu (participant in a séance) · nl zitter (someone who sits, e.g. for a portrait) · pl opiekun (one employed to watch or tend something; a babysitter, housesitter, petsitter, etc.) · hu betegápoló (one employed to watch or tend something; a babysitter, housesitter, petsitter, etc.) · pl osoba pozująca (someone who sits, e.g. for a portrait) · hu bébiszitter (one employed to watch or tend something; a babysitter, housesitter, petsitter, etc.) · hu modell (someone who sits, e.g. for a portrait)