Other forms: sessions
A session is a block of time given over to one activity, start to finish. An hour with a physiotherapist, a Saturday morning training session, a two-hour recording session in a studio, therapy on Tuesdays at five.
In court and parliament a session is the stretch during which the body is meeting and doing business: the court is in session, parliament's autumn session. Computing borrowed it for the time between logging in and logging out — your session expires and you sign in again. Musicians use it two ways: a session musician is one hired to play on other people's recordings, and in Britain and Ireland a session is also an evening of folk tunes in a pub. Informally, a session can be a long stretch of drinking, which is where a sessionable beer gets its name.
1nountimeA period of time spent doing one particular activity.
“We booked six sessions with a driving instructor.”
2nounmeetingA meeting of a court, parliament or other formal body, or the period during which it meets.
“The court was still in session at eight in the evening.”
3nounsessionThe period between logging in to a computer system and logging out again.
“Your session has timed out — please sign in again.”
4nounoccasionAn occasion when musicians play together, for a recording or for the pleasure of it.
“She played on the session as a stand-in bass player.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
session is a period of time.
Session goes back through Old French to Latin sessiō, 'a sitting', from sedeō, 'to sit', and behind that the Proto-Indo-European root *sed-, the same one sitting inside sedentary. A session was once literally people sitting down together: the court sat, the council sat, and the time they stayed seated was the session.
Proto-Indo-European
*sed-
Latin
sessiō — a sitting
Old French
session
Middle English
session
English, today
session
Built from
From Middle English session, from Old French session, from Latin sessiō (“a sitting”), from sedeō (“sit”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA