Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. (context US idiomatic English) Expression used to describe an enviable position, often one of great advantage.
Wikipedia
"The catbird seat" is an American English idiomatic phrase used to describe an enviable position, often in terms of having the upper hand or greater advantage in all types of dealings among parties. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded usage occurred in a 1942 humorous short story by James Thurber titled " The Catbird Seat," which features a character, Mrs. Barrows, who likes to use the phrase. Another character, Joey Hart, explains that Mrs. Barrows must have picked up the expression from Red Barber, the baseball broadcaster, and that to Barber "sitting in the catbird seat" meant "'sitting pretty,' like a batter with three balls and no strikes on him."
The phrase "In the catbird seat" was among the numerous folksy expressions used by Barber. According to Barber's daughter, after her father read Thurber's story, he began using the phrase "in the catbird seat." This seems to reverse events, however, as the passage of story quoted above clearly references Barber himself. According to "Colonel" Bob Edwards's book Fridays with Red, Barber claimed that Thurber got this and many other expressions from him, and that Barber had first heard the term used during a poker game in Cincinnati during the Great Depression. Barber himself also put forth this version of events in his 1968 autobiography, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat.
Further usage can be found in P. G. Wodehouse's 1958 novel Cocktail Time: "I get you. If we swing it, we'll be sitting pretty, 'In the catbird seat.'"
According to Douglas Harper's Online Etymological Dictionary, the phrase refers to the gray catbird and was used in the 19th century in the American South.
Ken Harrelson, the play-by-play TV broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox, has been often heard referencing "the catbird seat" during games.
Indianapolis sports radio hosts Query and Schultz, of 1260 WNDE, frequently use the phrase to describe teams in an enviable position.
It is also often used by various NASCAR broadcasters to refer to a driver in a pivotal, valuable position, such as the leader, the last driver to be guaranteed into an event, or a driver utilizing a risky strategy that may bring them to victory.
When used in the sense of a lookout, it can be considered a euphemism for the nautical term " crow's nest" that is used on sailing ships.
Usage examples of "catbird seat".
And sending in the spies appealed to me more than doing it myself, sort of like Desmond in the catbird seat.
Needless to say, when we finally come to power, and at the rate the Party is booming that won't be long, we'll be in the catbird seat.
But from my perch in this plastic catbird seat out here on the southernmost rim of Key West, the barometer looks to be falling so fast on all fronts that it no longer matters.
I settled back in the catbird seat and listened to the radio for a while, feeling drowsy as the sun got hotter and hotter.
I have no wish to share in the childish yearnings of two jerks who don't seem to realize they are in the catbird seat riding the gravy train up the ladder of success.
All I have to do now is make one little minor adjustment in the whole can of worms, and by the time Pain Day's over, Willem and Moro will have neatly connived themselves into oblivion, and I'll be in the catbird seat.
I don't want to have gone through all this only to find Skynet in the catbird seat.
The 1965 will gives him voting control of the family business so he winds up sitting in the catbird seat regardless.
Grant had been in the catbird seat, the justice Department had been so surprised to find a reasonably honest lawman that they'd been content to let him dress any old way he pleased.
Neither you, me, nor nobody can reform such setups until and unless somebody in the catbird seat really fucks up.
He just went on drawling and lollygagging along as if he were sitting in the catbird seat the whole time!