sit out

Verb

sit out (third-person singular simple present sits out, present participle sitting out, simple past and past participle sat out)

1. (ambitransitive) To decline to participate; particularly, to decline to dance.
   • I don't like this tune, and I'm rather tired, so I think I'll just sit out.
   • I don't like this tune, and I'm rather tired, so I think I'll just sit it out.

   Synonyms:

   opt out

2. (transitive) To await the cessation of, without taking part.
   • A large proportion of the millhands sat out the strike in their native villages, sometimes hundreds of miles from Bombay; the remainder survived precariously in the city with the help of casual labour and rations of grain […]2012 [1984], chapter 13, in Barry Munslow, Henry Finch, editors, Proletarianisation in the Third World (non-fiction), page 283
   • He thinks he can sit it out and still take a slice?2008 July 14, Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, The Dark Knight, spoken by Grumpy (Danny Goldring), Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Comics, Legendary Pictures
3. To be away from the table in the midst of an ongoing game, thus automatically placing one's forced bets and otherwise folding every hand when it is one's time to act.
4. To lean out to the windward side of a sailboat in order to counterbalance the effects of the wind on the sails.

   Synonyms:

   hike, lean out

5. To escape a hold while face down by swinging one's legs around into the sitting position.