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Entry 61 senses · 5 variants Webster, 1913

Set

/(sĕt)/ · IPA /sɛt/
01 v. t. To cause to sit; to make to assume a specified position or attitude; to give site or place to; to place; to put; to fix; as, to set a house…
imp. & p. p. Set; p. pr. & vb. n. Setting
  1. 1.
    To cause to sit; to make to assume a specified position or attitude; to give site or place to; to place; to put; to fix; as, to set a house on a stone foundation; to set a book on a shelf; to set a dish on a table; to set a chest or trunk on its bottom or on end.
    “I do set my bow in the cloud.” — Gen. ix. 13.
  2. 2.
    Hence, to attach or affix (something) to something else, or in or upon a certain place.
    “Set your affection on things above.” — Col. iii. 2.
    “The Lord set a mark upon Cain.” — Gen. iv. 15.
  3. 3.
    To make to assume specified place, condition, or occupation; to put in a certain condition or state (described by the accompanying words); to cause to be.
    “The Lord thy God will set thee on high.” — Deut. xxviii. 1.
    “I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother.” — Matt. x. 35.
    “Every incident sets him thinking.” — Coleridge.
  4. 4.
    To fix firmly; to make fast, permanent, or stable; to render motionless; to give an unchanging place, form, or condition to.
  5. 5.
    To cause to stop or stick; to obstruct; to fasten to a spot; hence, to occasion difficulty to; to embarrass; as, to set a coach in the mud.
    “They show how hard they are set in this particular.” — Addison.
  6. 6.
    To fix beforehand; to determine; hence, to make unyielding or obstinate; to render stiff, unpliant, or rigid; as, to set one's countenance.
    “His eyes were set by reason of his age.” — 1 Kings xiv. 4.
    “On these three objects his heart was set.” — Macaulay.
    “Make my heart as a millstone, set my face as a flint.” — Tennyson.
  7. 7.
    To fix in the ground, as a post or a tree; to plant; as, to set pear trees in an orchard.
  8. 8.
    To fix, as a precious stone, in a border of metal; to place in a setting; hence, to place in or amid something which serves as a setting; as, to set glass in a sash.
    “And him too rich a jewel to be set In vulgar metal for a vulgar use.” — Dryden.
  9. 9.
    To render stiff or solid; especially, to convert into curd; to curdle; as, to set milk for cheese.
  10. 10.
    To put into a desired position or condition; to adjust; to regulate; to adapt.
  11. 11.
    To put in order in a particular manner; to prepare; as, to set (that is, to hone) a razor; to set a saw.
    “Tables for to sette, and beddes make.” — Chaucer.
  12. 12.
    To extend and bring into position; to spread; as, to set the sails of a ship.
  13. 13.
    To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the keynote; as, to set a psalm.
  14. 14.
    To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state; to replace; as, to set a broken bone.
  15. 15.
    To make to agree with some standard; as, to set a watch or a clock.
  16. 16.
    To lower into place and fix solidly, as the blocks of cut stone in a structure.(Masonry)
  17. 17.
    To stake at play; to wager; to risk.
    “I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die.” — Shak.
  18. 18.
    To fit with music; to adapt, as words to notes; to prepare for singing.
    “Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute.” — Dryden.
  19. 19.
    To determine; to appoint; to assign; to fix; as, to set a time for a meeting; to set a price on a horse.
  20. 20.
    To adorn with something infixed or affixed; to stud; to variegate with objects placed here and there.
    “High on their heads, with jewels richly set, Each lady wore a radiant coronet.” — Dryden.
    “Pastoral dales thin set with modern farms.” — Wordsworth.
  21. 21.
    To value; to rate; -- with at.
    “Be you contented, wearing now the garland, To have a son set your decrees at naught.” — Shak.
    “I do not set my life at a pin's fee.” — Shak.
  22. 22.
    To point out the seat or position of, as birds, or other game; -- said of hunting dogs.
  23. 23.
    To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to assign; as, to set an example; to set lessons to be learned.
  24. 24.
    To suit; to become; as, it sets him ill.[Scot.]
  25. 25.
    To compose; to arrange in words, lines, etc.; as, to set type; to set a page.(Print.)
    “Setting aside all other considerations, I will endeavor to know the truth, and yield to that.” — Tillotson.
    “Some rules were to be set down for the government of the army.” — Clarendon.
    “This law we may name eternal, being that order which God . . . hath set down with himself, for himself to do all things by.” — Hooker.
    “The Venetian admiral had a fleet of sixty galleys, set forth by the Venetians.” — Knolles.
    “If you please to assist and set me in, I will recollect myself.” — Collier.
    “They . . . set off the worst faces with the best airs.” — Addison.
    “An ugly woman, in rich habit set out with jewels, nothing can become.” — Dryden.
    “The Venetians pretend they could set out, in case of great necessity, thirty men-of-war.” — Addison.
    “I could set out that best side of Luther.” — Atterbury.
    “I'll set up such a note as she shall hear.” — Dryden.
Syn. See Put.
02 v. i. To pass below the horizon; to go down; to decline; to sink out of sight; to come to an end.
  1. 1.
    To pass below the horizon; to go down; to decline; to sink out of sight; to come to an end.
    “Ere the weary sun set in the west.” — Shak.
    “Thus this century sets with little mirth, and the next is likely to arise with more mourning.” — Fuller.
  2. 2.
    To fit music to words.[Obs.]
  3. 3.
    To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant.
  4. 4.
    To be fixed for growth; to strike root; to begin to germinate or form; as, cuttings set well; the fruit has set well (i. e., not blasted in the blossom).
  5. 5.
    To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened.
    “A gathering and serring of the spirits together to resist, maketh the teeth to set hard one against another.” — Bacon.
  6. 6.
    To congeal; to concrete; to solidify; -- of cements, glues, gels, concrete, substances polymerizing into plastics, etc.
    “That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set.” — Boyle.
  7. 7.
    To have a certain direction in motion; to flow; to move on; to tend; as, the current sets to the north; the tide sets to the windward.
  8. 8.
    To begin to move; to go out or forth; to start; -- now followed by out.
    “The king is set from London.” — Shak.
  9. 9.
    To indicate the position of game; -- said of a dog; as, the dog sets well; also, to hunt game by the aid of a setter.
  10. 10.
    To apply one's self; to undertake earnestly; -- now followed by out.
    “If he sets industriously and sincerely to perform the commands of Christ, he can have no ground of doubting but it shall prove successful to him.” — Hammond.
  11. 11.
    To fit or suit one; to sit; as, the coat sets well.
    “He that would seriously set upon the search of truth.” — Locke.
    “Cassio hath here been set on in the dark.” — Shak.
    “Those men who set up for mortality without regard to religion, are generally but virtuous in part.” — Swift.
03 a. Fixed in position; immovable; rigid; as, a set line; a set countenance.
  1. 1.
    Fixed in position; immovable; rigid; as, a set line; a set countenance.
  2. 2.
    Firm; unchanging; obstinate; as, set opinions or prejudices.
  3. 3.
    Regular; uniform; formal; as, a set discourse; a set battle.
  4. 4.
    Established; prescribed; as, set forms of prayer.
  5. 5.
    Adjusted; arranged; formed; adapted.
Phrases & compounds
Set hammer — A hammer the head of which is not tightly fastened upon the handle, but may be reversed
Set line — a line to which a number of baited hooks are attached, and which, supported by floats and properly secured, may be left unguarded during the absence of the fisherman.
Set nut — a jam nut or lock nut. See under Nut.
Set screw — a screw, sometimes cupped or printed at one end, and screwed through one part, as of a machine, tightly upon another part, to prevent the one from slipping upon the other.
Set speech — a speech carefully prepared before it is delivered in public; a formal or methodical speech.
04 n. The act of setting, as of the sun or other heavenly body; descent; hence, the close; termination.
  1. 1.
    The act of setting, as of the sun or other heavenly body; descent; hence, the close; termination.
    “The weary sun hath made a golden set.” — Shak.
  2. 2.
    That which is set, placed, or fixed.[Obs. or R.]
    “We will in France, by God's grace, play a set Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.” — Shak.
    “That was but civil war, an equal set.” — Dryden.
  3. 3.
    Permanent change of figure in consequence of excessive strain, as from compression, tension, bending, twisting, etc.; as, the set of a spring.(Mech.)
  4. 4.
    A kind of punch used for bending, indenting, or giving shape to, metal; as, a saw set.
  5. 5.
    A piece placed temporarily upon the head of a pile when the latter cannot be reached by the weight, or hammer, except by means of such an intervening piece.(Pile Driving)
  6. 6.
    A short steel spike used for driving the head of a nail below the surface. Called also nail set.(Carp.) Also: nail set
  7. 7.
    A number of things of the same kind, ordinarily used or classed together; a collection of articles which naturally complement each other, and usually go together; an assortment; a suit; as, a set of chairs, of china, of surgical or mathematical instruments, of books, etc.
  8. 8.
    A number of persons associated by custom, office, common opinion, quality, or the like; a division; a group; a clique.
    “This falls into different divisions, or sets, of nations connected under particular religions.” — R. P. Ward.
  9. 9.
    Direction or course; as, the set of the wind, or of a current.
  10. 10.
    In dancing, the number of persons necessary to execute a quadrille; also, the series of figures or movements executed.
  11. 11.
    The deflection of a tooth, or of the teeth, of a saw, which causes the the saw to cut a kerf, or make an opening, wider than the blade.
  12. 12.
    A young oyster when first attached.
  13. 13.
    A series of as many games as may be necessary to enable one side to win six. If at the end of the tenth game the score is a tie, the set is usually called a deuce set, and decided by an application of the rules for playing off deuce in a game. See Deuce.(Tennis) See: Deuce
  14. 14.
    That dimension of the body of a type called by printers the width.(Type Founding) Also: width
  15. 15.
    Any of various standards of measurement of the fineness of cloth; specif., the number of reeds in one inch and the number of threads in each reed. The exact meaning varies according to the location where it is used. Sometimes written sett.(Textiles)
  16. 16.
    A stone, commonly of granite, shaped like a short brick and usually somewhat larger than one, used for street paving. Commonly written sett.
  17. 17.
    Camber of a curved roofing tile.
  18. 18.
    The manner, state, or quality of setting or fitting; fit; as, the set of a coat.[Colloq.]
  19. 19.
    Any collection or group of objects considered together.
Phrases & compounds
Dead set — The act of a setter dog when it discovers the game, and remains intently fixed in pointing it out
To make a dead set — to make a determined onset, literally or figuratively.
Syn. Collection; series; group. See Pair.
05 prop. n. An evil beast-headed god with high square ears and a long snout; his was the brother and murderer of Osiris. Called also Seth
  1. 1.
    An evil beast-headed god with high square ears and a long snout; his was the brother and murderer of Osiris. Called also Seth(Egyptian Mythology) Also: Seth