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 d.1832. Scott [Century]. He attacked it with such a siserary of Latin as might have scared the devil himself.

Sister, subs. (old).—A disguised whore: see Tart.

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho, ii. 2. The serving-man has his punk, the student his nun the Puritan his sister.

See Brother Smut.

Sisterhood, subs. (old).—Harlotry in general.

1821. Egan, Life in London, ii. i. She certainly must be considered a female materially different from the sisterhood in general.

Sit, subs. (American printers').—Situation: e.g. out of a sit = out of a job.

Phrases.—To sit on one's knees = to kneel; to sit under = to attend the ministry of some particular divine; to sit a woman = to keep the night-courtship (q.v.): cf. Bundle; to sit on (or upon) = (1) to take to task, to snub—in anger, contempt, or jest: also sat-upon, adj. = reprimanded, snubbed; and (2) to allow milk to brim in the pan; to sit eggs = to outstay one's welcome; to sit in = to adhere firmly; to sit up = to pull oneself together; to make one sit up = to astonish, disconcert, or get an advantage. See also Bodkin, Skirts.

1474-85. Paston Letters [Arber] 235. [Oliphant, New Eng., i, 341. Our slang use of sit upon is foreshadowed the King intends to sitte uppon a criminal; that is, in judgment.]

[?]. Battle of Babrinnes [Child, Ballads, vii. 229. When they cam to the hill againe They sett doune on thair knees.

1644. Milton, Of Education. There would then also appear in pulpits other visages, other gestures, and stuff otherwise wrought than what we now sit under.

1754. Connoisseur, No. 27. The audience that sits under our preachers.

1821. Scott, Kenilworth, xxxii. I protest, Rulland, that while he sat on his knees before me I had much ado to forbear cutting him over the pate.

1830. Southey, Bunyan, 25. At this time he sat (in puritanical language) under the ministry of holy Mr. Gifford.

1852. Notes and Queries, 1 S., iv. 43. It is said a young man is sitting a young woman when he is wooing or courting her.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ii. Each to sit under his or her favourite minister.

1876. C. H. Wall, tr. Moliere, i. 411. The jester shall be sat upon in his turn; he shall have a rap over the knuckles, by Jove.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke's Children, xxvi. Experience had taught him that the less people demanded the more they were sat upon.

1883. James Payn, Thicker than Water, xxi. The only person to whom he had ever known Mary distinctly antagonistic He had seen her sit upon him rather heavily more than once.

1883. Referee, March 25, 2, 4. In the years gone by when I was good, and used to sit under Newman Hall at Surrey Chapel.

1888. G. Gissing, A Life's Morning, iii. He allowed himself to be sat upon gracefully; a snub well administered to him was sure of its full artistic, and did not fail in its moral effect.

1891. Harry Fludyer, 15. I forgot to open last term's bills. I found them yesterday all stowed away in a drawer, and they made me sit up.

1893. Chambers's Jour., 25 Feb., 128. With that sat-upon sort of man you never know where he may break out.

1902. Free Lance, 6 Oct., 4, 2. The fashion papers of Paris make even America sit up.

Sith-nom, subs. phr. (back slang).—A month.

Sit-on-a-rock, subs. phr. (American).—Rye whiskey.