See sit on one's hands in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "sits on one's hands",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "sitting on one's hands",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "sat on one's hands",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "sat on one's hands",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "sit<,,sat> on one's hands"
},
"expansion": "sit on one's hands (third-person singular simple present sits on one's hands, present participle sitting on one's hands, simple past and past participle sat on one's hands)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "83 17",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "83 17",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "77 23",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "90 10",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "85 15",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "76 24",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with French translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "84 16",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "79 21",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Polish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "87 13",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Coordinate term: twiddle one's thumbs"
},
{
"ref": "2023 March 8, Mel Holley, “TSSA accepts offer, but RMT sets new strike dates”, in RAIL, number 978, page 10:",
"text": "\"Ministers cannot continue to sit on their hands, hoping this dispute will go away. Our members are fully prepared to fight tooth-and-nail for a negotiated settlement,\" RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch has warned.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To remain idle when action is needed, perhaps because of fear, ignorance, complacency, indecisiveness, or dislike of the person(s) or situation."
],
"id": "en-sit_on_one's_hands-en-verb-SSE~ObVQ",
"links": [
[
"remain",
"remain"
],
[
"idle",
"idle"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To remain idle when action is needed, perhaps because of fear, ignorance, complacency, indecisiveness, or dislike of the person(s) or situation."
],
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "62 38",
"word": "hand-sitter"
},
{
"_dis1": "62 38",
"tags": [
"vulgar"
],
"word": "sit on one's ass"
},
{
"_dis1": "62 38",
"word": "take a stand"
},
{
"_dis1": "62 38",
"word": "take sitting down"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "loiter"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "80 20",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "pyöritellä peukaloitaan"
},
{
"_dis1": "80 20",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "rester les bras croisés"
},
{
"_dis1": "80 20",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "(nur) dumm rumsitzen"
},
{
"_dis1": "80 20",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "siedzieć z założonymi rękami"
},
{
"_dis1": "80 20",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "siedzieć z założonymi rękoma"
},
{
"_dis1": "80 20",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "cruzarse de brazos"
},
{
"_dis1": "80 20",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "mano sobre mano (after a verb; usu. estar)"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Theater",
"orig": "en:Theater",
"parents": [
"Art",
"Entertainment",
"Culture",
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1946, Billboard, volume 58, number 40:",
"text": "While Boston is a \"musical town,\" audiences here sat on their hands a good part of the time.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To fail to applaud when expected to."
],
"id": "en-sit_on_one's_hands-en-verb-cX9OR37P",
"links": [
[
"theater",
"theater"
],
[
"applaud",
"applaud"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(theater, informal) To fail to applaud when expected to."
],
"tags": [
"informal"
],
"topics": [
"entertainment",
"lifestyle",
"theater"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-sit on one's hands.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/51/En-au-sit_on_one%27s_hands.ogg/En-au-sit_on_one%27s_hands.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/En-au-sit_on_one%27s_hands.ogg"
}
],
"word": "sit on one's hands"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English verbs",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations"
],
"forms": [
{
"form": "sits on one's hands",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "sitting on one's hands",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "sat on one's hands",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "sat on one's hands",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "sit<,,sat> on one's hands"
},
"expansion": "sit on one's hands (third-person singular simple present sits on one's hands, present participle sitting on one's hands, simple past and past participle sat on one's hands)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "hand-sitter"
},
{
"tags": [
"vulgar"
],
"word": "sit on one's ass"
},
{
"word": "take a stand"
},
{
"word": "take sitting down"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Coordinate term: twiddle one's thumbs"
},
{
"ref": "2023 March 8, Mel Holley, “TSSA accepts offer, but RMT sets new strike dates”, in RAIL, number 978, page 10:",
"text": "\"Ministers cannot continue to sit on their hands, hoping this dispute will go away. Our members are fully prepared to fight tooth-and-nail for a negotiated settlement,\" RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch has warned.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To remain idle when action is needed, perhaps because of fear, ignorance, complacency, indecisiveness, or dislike of the person(s) or situation."
],
"links": [
[
"remain",
"remain"
],
[
"idle",
"idle"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To remain idle when action is needed, perhaps because of fear, ignorance, complacency, indecisiveness, or dislike of the person(s) or situation."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "loiter"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English informal terms",
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Theater"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1946, Billboard, volume 58, number 40:",
"text": "While Boston is a \"musical town,\" audiences here sat on their hands a good part of the time.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To fail to applaud when expected to."
],
"links": [
[
"theater",
"theater"
],
[
"applaud",
"applaud"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(theater, informal) To fail to applaud when expected to."
],
"tags": [
"informal"
],
"topics": [
"entertainment",
"lifestyle",
"theater"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-sit on one's hands.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/51/En-au-sit_on_one%27s_hands.ogg/En-au-sit_on_one%27s_hands.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/En-au-sit_on_one%27s_hands.ogg"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "pyöritellä peukaloitaan"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "rester les bras croisés"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "(nur) dumm rumsitzen"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "siedzieć z założonymi rękami"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "siedzieć z założonymi rękoma"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "cruzarse de brazos"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to remain idle when action is needed",
"word": "mano sobre mano (after a verb; usu. estar)"
}
],
"word": "sit on one's hands"
}
Download raw JSONL data for sit on one's hands meaning in English (3.7kB)
{
"called_from": "translations/611",
"msg": "suspicious translation with '; ': {'lang': 'Spanish', 'code': 'es', 'sense': 'to remain idle when action is needed', 'word': 'mano sobre mano (after a verb; usu. estar)'}",
"path": [
"sit on one's hands"
],
"section": "English",
"subsection": "verb",
"title": "sit on one's hands",
"trace": ""
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (f889f65 and 8fbd9e8). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.