anxious seat

American  

[angk-shuhs seet, ang-] / ˈæŋk ʃəs ˌsit, ˈæŋ- /

noun

1. Also called anxious bench.  Chiefly North Atlantic States and Southern and South Midland U.S. a seat reserved at a revival meeting for those troubled by conscience and eager for spiritual assistance.

2. a state of anxiety, especially about the outcome of a vote, negotiation, etc..

   Strikers have been in the anxious seat for the last three days.

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Etymology

Origin of anxious seat

An Americanism dating back to 1810–20

Example Sentences

Other items which Sir William traces far include: absquatulate, anxious seat, slam bang, cinch, lengthy, maverick, rain check, barn stormer, cowcatcher, calamity howler, greased lightning, rambunctious.

From Time Magazine Archive

Calvin Coolidge has had everybody on the anxious seat for months as to who he would sup port in the November handicap.

From Time Magazine Archive

In great revival seasons in our own day, one will always see a dozen women on the anxious seat to one man, and the same at the communion table.

From The Woman's Bible by Stanton, Elizabeth Cady

The way to the church militant, according to this bigot, was from the anxious seat, one of which he always carried with him.

From T. De Witt Talmage As I Knew Him by Talmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)

That took him off of the anxious seat and put him on the solid.

From The Adventures of a Forty-niner An Historic Description of California, with Events and Ideas of San Francisco and Its People in Those Early Days by Ivanowski, Sigismond de