Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - seat

~1 n 1 »PLACE TO SIT« a place where you can sit, for example a chair  (Excuse me, can you tell us where our seats are? | a 150-seat airliner | have/take a seat spoken (=used to politely invite someone to sit down))  (If you'd like to take a seat, the doctor will see you shortly. | back/front seat (=the seats in the back or front of a car etc) | passenger seat (=the seat next to the driver in a car) | take your seat (=sit down in your seat))  (The judge hurried in and took his seat. | reserve a seat (=pay for a theatre seat before you go)) 2 »PART OF A CHAIR« C usually singular the flat part of a chair etc that you sit on  (Don't put your feet on the seat!) 3 seat of your trousers/pants the part of your trousers that you sit on 4 two-seater/three-seater etc a vehicle or piece of furniture with two seats, three seats etc 5 »OFFICIAL POSITION« a position as a member of a government or a group that makes official decisions  (a seat on the board of directors | win/lose a seat)  (The Tories won 419 seats in the last election. | a safe seat (=a position held by a political party that is not likely to be lost in an election)) 6 seat of learning/government etc formal a place, usually a city, where a university or government is based 7 take a back seat to let someone else make the important decisions 8 be on the edge of your seat to be waiting excitedly to see what happens next 9 do sth by the seat of your pants to do something by using only your own skill and experience, without any help from anyone or anything else 10 be in the driving seat BrE also be in the driver's seat especially AmE to control everything that happens in an organization, relationship, or situation 11 be in the hot seat to be in a position in which you have to make important decisions or answer a lot of difficult questions 12 »ON A HORSE« technical the way someone sits on a horse  (Sally's got a good seat.) 13 »HOUSE« a home of a rich, important family in the countryside family/country seat  (- see also back-seat driver driver (2), loveseat, window seat) ~2 v 1 be seated a) to be sitting down  (Paul was seated at the head of the table with his wife next to him.) b) spoken formal used to politely invite people to sit down  (Please be seated so we can begin the meeting.) 2 remain/stay seated to stay in your seat  (Remain seated until the aircraft has come to a complete stop.) 3 seat yourself beside/in/on etc formal to sit down somewhere 4 »ARRANGE WHERE PEOPLE SIT« always + adv/prep to arrange for someone to sit somewhere  (seat sb beside/on/near etc Whatever you do, make sure you don't seat Alan and Pat next to each other.)  (- see sit) 5 »HOLD A NUMBER OF PEOPLE« (not in progressive) if a room, vehicle, table etc seats a certain number of people, it has enough seats for that number  (The new stadium seats 60,000.) 6 »FIT STH SOMEWHERE« technical to fit something, tightly into a space that is specially made for it