sestina 
A sestina is a poem written neither in rhyme nor blank 
verse, but in so-called six-line stanzas, each one of which 
has to take the last word of the stanza preceding it, and 
twist it about into some new and fantastic meaning. 
AUienxmn, No. 3141, p. 14. 
sestine (ses'tin), . [< It. sestina, a kind <>!' 
poem, = Sp. ncxtiiin, sextttla = Pg. srxtiini, wr- 
tilhn = F. sextine, < L. sexttis, sixth, ordinal of 
sex, six : see six, sixth. Doublet of sextain.] In 
pros., same as sestiitu. 
The day was so wasted that onely his riming Sestine, 
delivered by one of great account among them, could ob- 
tain favor to bee heard. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iv. 
sestole (ses'tol), . [< It. sesto, sixth, + -ole.] 
In mmic, same as sextuplet, 2. 
sestolet (ses'to-let), n. [< sestole + -et.] Same 
as sextuplet, 2. 
sesun 1 !, . A Middle English form of season. 
S6SUn 2 t, . A Middle English form of seizin. 
Sesuvium (se-su'vi-um), . [NL. (Linneeus, 
1762).] A genus of apetalous plants, of the or- 
der Ficoidese and tribe Aizoidex. it Is character- 
ized by flowers with a flve-lobed calyx, five or more sta- 
mens, and a three- to rive-celled ovary with axillary pla- 
centce, numerous ovules, and a circumscissile capsule. 
There are 4 species, natives of tropical shores throughout 
the world. They are erect or prostrate branching and 
succulent herbs, sometimes slightly shrubby. They bear 
opposite, fleshy, linear or oblong leaves without distinct 
stipules, and with axillary, solitary or clustered, usually 
reddish or purplish flowers. They are known as sea-purs, 
lane. S. Portulacastrum is a widely diffused species, use- 
ful with others in binding sea-sands, and in western Asia 
eaten as a salad. See purslane. 
set 1 (set), '. ; pret. and pp. net, ppr. netting. 
[Early mod. E. also sett, sette; < ME. setten (pret. 
sette, ssette, &\&o settide, pi. settiden, pp. set, sette, 
i-set, y-set, i-sett, i-sette), < AS. settan (pret. 
sette, pp. geset), set, = OS. settian = OFries. 
setta = MD. setten, D. eetten = MLG. LG. set- 
ten = OHG. sazzan, sezzan, setzan, MHG. G. 
setzen = Icel. set/a = Sw. satta = Dan. ssette = 
Goth, satjari, set, put, place, etc. (in a wide 
variety of applications), lit. cause to sit, causal 
of AS. sittan (pret. sset), etc., sit: see sit. Cf. 
beset, seize. The verb set, orig. transitive, by rea- 
son of its reflexive use, and ult., by omission of 
the object, its intransitive use, and by reason of 
its phonetic similarity or identity in some forms 
with the primitive verb sit (also dial, set, obs. 
or dial. pret. and pp. set), has become more or 
less confused and involved in its later uses. In 
the sense 'sink,' as the sun or stars, it is partly 
of Seand. origin, < Icel. refl. setasl', set, as the 
sun, etc. Many uses are highly idiomatic, the 
verb, like put, its nearest equivalent, and do, 
make, get, etc., having become of almost uni- 
versal application, and taking its distinctive 
color from the context.] I. trans. 1. To make 
or cause to rest as on a seat ; cause to be put, 
placed, or seated ; place in a sitting, standing, 
or any natural or normal posture; put: as, to 
set a box on its end or a table on its feet : often 
with up or down : as, to set up a statue or a flag- 
staff; to set down a burden. 
Thei. castynge her clothis on the colt, setten Jhesu on 
hyiu. Wyclif, Luke xix. X,. 
He tooke, he tooke him up a, 
All by the lilly-white hand, 
And set him on his feet. 
By Lands-dale Hey Ho (Child's Ballads, V. 482). 
The dishes have feet like standing holies, and are so set 
one upon another that you may eat of each without re- 
moving of any. Sandys, Travailes, p. 51. 
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it, . . . 
but setteth it on a candlestick. Luke viii. 16. 
Lo ! as a careful housewife runs to catch 
One of her feather'd creatures broke away, 
Sets down her babe and makes all swift despatch. 
Shak., Sonnets, cxliii. 
2. To put in a certain place, position, direc- 
tion, or relation ; put ; place ; fix ; establish. 
With mete & drynke be-fore the sette, 
Hold the plesyd, & aske no bette. 
Bailees Book (E. E. T. S.X p. 23. 
Roben set hes home to hes mowthe, 
And blow a blast that was foil god. 
Robin Hood and the Potter (Child's Ballads, V. 29). 
I do set my bow in the cloud. Gen. ix. 13. 
He set his horse head to the water, 
Just thro' it for to ride. 
Earl Richard (Child's Ballads, III. 269). 
Come, boy, set two chairs ; and ... we will, it you 
please, talk of some other subject. 
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 239. 
A design to beguile thee of thy salvation, by turning thee 
from the way in which I had set thee. 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 97. 
More specifically- (a) To arrange ; dispose ; adjust ; place 
station; post. 
They went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the 
stone, and setting a watch. Mat. xxvii. 6. 
Set we our squadrons on yond side o' the hill 
In eye of Cassar's battle. Shak., A. and C., iii. 9. 1. 
5522 
If his Princely wisedome and powerfull hand, renowned 
through the world for admirable government, please but 
to set these new Estates into order, their composure will 
be singular. Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 69. 
Then she cast off her lad's attire ; 
A maiden's weede upon her backe she seemely *>-t 
The Merchant's Daughter (< 'hild's Uallads, IV. 335). 
I ... could not effecte y' which I aimed at, neither 
can yet sett things as I wished. 
Cushman, quoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 36. 
(b) To place or plant firmly : as, he set his foot upon his op- 
ponent's neck. 
To lond he him sette, 
And fot on si imp sette. 
King Horn (E. E. T. S.X I. 757. 
Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him. 
Shak., Tit. And., v. 3. 179. 
In mosses mixt with violet 
Her cream-white mule his pastern set. 
Tennyson, Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere. 
(c) To establish, as in a certain post, office, or relation ; ap- 
point; ordain: as, to set a person over others; tosetaman 
at the head of affairs. 
Theose sixe ben i-set to saue the castel ; 
To kepe this wommon this wyse men ben charget. 
Piers Plmrman (A), x. 22. 
Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of 
many in Israel. Luke ii. 34. 
Well set thee to school to an ant. Shak., Lear, ii. 4. 68. 
I look upon myself as one set to watch the manners and 
behaviour of my countrymen and contemporaries. 
Addison, Spectator, No. 435. 
(rf) To place before the mind : often with a direct and an 
indirect object. 
Herein she sets me good example of a patience and con- 
tentment hard for me to imitate, 
n. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xx. 
(e) To adjust, as an instrument : as, to set a clock, a tele- 
scope, an alarm, or a metronome ; to set the feed of a sew- 
ing-machine ; to set the focus of a microscope. 
Hath some frolic heart .-/ back the hand 
Of fate's perpetual clock? Quarles, Emblems, v. 7. 
The Overseer of the Poor 
Is setting the Workhouse Clock. 
Hood, The Workhouse Clock. 
3. Specifically (o) To put (a domestic fowl 
when broody) in position for incubation ; place 
(a broody hen or other fowl) on a nest con- 
taining eggs, for the purpose of hatching them. 
What woman cannot sette an hen on broode 
And bryng her briddes forth? 
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.X p. 22. 
(b) To place (eggs) under a broody hen or other 
bird in a nest, or in an incubator, for the pur- 
pose of hatching them. 4. To cause or pro- 
cure to be or do ; dispose ; put from one state 
into another : followed by an object with a pred- 
icate to it: as, to set at ease; to set in order; 
to set matters right. See also phrases below. 
I am come to set a man at variance against his father. 
Mat. x. 35. 
Law addressed herself to set wrong right. 
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 152. 
5. To make or cause to do, act, or be ; start ; be- 
stir; employ; busy: followed by an object with 
a further predicate determining the object's ac- 
tion : as, to set a faucet running ; to set a man to 
work; to set one's self to improve matters. 
A wys wpmman wol sette [Tar. busy] hire evere in oon 
To get hire love ther as she hath noon. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 209. 
Where be ... your flashes of merriment, that were 
wont to set the table on a roar? Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 210. 
We were set to wipe the feet of the kings horses, and to 
become ordinarie slaues in the said Court. 
Webbe, Travels (ed. ArberX p. 18. 
Come, what 's here to do? you are putting the town- 
pleasures in her head, and setting her a-longing. 
Wyeherley, Country Wife, iii. 1. 
How utterly they are at a stand until they are set a-going 
by some paragraph in a newspaper. 
Steele, Spectator, No. 4. 
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying. 
Tennyson, Princess, iii. (song). 
When now 
The good things of the hall were set aglow 
By the great tapers. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 151. 
The twilight that sends the hens to roost sets the fox to 
prowl. J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 42. 
6. To fix. (a) To make rigid or immovable : as, rust had 
set the weathercock. 
Peace, set your countenance then, for here he comes. 
Middleton (and others), The Widow, v. 1. 
Set are her eyes, and motionless her limbs. 
Garth, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., xiv. 
(b) To make stiff, firm, or solid : as, to set milk with ren- 
net. 
They [liquors] are then evaporated to crystallizing point, 
. . . When set, . . . the masses of crystals are drained. 
Spons' Encyc. Mamif., I. 33. 
The coated plate is then left on the stand until it [the 
gelatin] is quite set. Workshop Receipts, 1st ser. , p. 279. 
set 
(c) To make fast or permanent, as a color : as, to set a blue 
with alum, (d) To nx for preservation ; prepare for exam- 
ination, as a specimen of natural history : technically said, 
especially in entomology, of transfixing an insect on a pin, 
and adjusting its wings, legs, and feelers so that these 
shall dry in a desired position ; also, of placing insects thus 
set in rows in proper boxes ; also, in taxidermy, of mount- 
ing or posing a stuffed specimen, as a bird on its perch. 
In some of these processes a simple instrument called a 
:'i-itin n needle is much used. 
7. To fix or settle authoritatively or by arrange- 
ment, (o) To appoint or determine, as a time or place 
for a specific purpose. 
The king said unto me, . . . For how long shall thy 
journey be? and when wilt thou return ? So . . . I et him 
a time. Neh. ii. 6. 
I am to bruise his heel ; 
His seed, when is not set, shall bruise my head. 
Milton, P. L., x. 499. 
Lord Dingwall courted this lady gay, 
And so he set their wedding-day. 
Lord Dingwall (Child's Ballads, I. 289). 
(6) To assign or prescribe, as a copy or a task. 
Set 'him such a task, to be done in such a time, as may 
allow him no opportunity to be idle. 
Locke, Education, 5 127. 
8. To fix, determine, or regulate beforehand, as 
a price, value, or amount: as, to set a price on 
a house or a horse. 
And as for these whose ransom we have set, 
It is our pleasure one of them depart. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 1. 139. 
Do you not see what feigned prices are set upon little 
stones or rarities? Bacon, Riches (ed. 1887). 
9. To put in order or trim for use ; make ready : 
as, to set a razor (that is, to give it a fine edge) ; 
to set a saw (to incline the teeth laterally to the 
right and left in order that the kerf may be 
wider than the thickness of the blade) ; to set a 
trap ; to set the table for dinner ; to set a scene 
on the stage. 
She gan the hons to dyghte, 
And tables for to .'"' and beddes make. 
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 839. 
Yeomen of Chambre, IIII, to make beddes, to here or 
hold torches, to sette bourdes. 
Quoted in Babees Book, p. 313, note. 
Sir, the scene is set, and everything is ready to begin, if 
you please. Sheridan, The Critic, ii. 1. 
An elaborate scene is set when it is arranged upon the 
stage, and " struck " when it is removed. 
Hew York Daily Tribune, July 14, 1889. 
10. To plant, as a shrub, tree, or vegetable : 
distinguished from sow : often with out : as, to 
set out strawberry-plants. 
To serue hym for euere, 
Bothe to sowe and to tette, the while I swynke myghte. 
Piers Plouman (B), v. 548. 
Ill not put 
The dibble in earth to set one slip of them. 
Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 100. 
An honest and laborious servant, whose skill and pro- 
fession was to set or sow all wholesome herbs. 
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst. 
11. To frame or mount, as a precious stone in 
gold, silver, or other metal : as, to set a dia- 
mond. 
Onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and 
of divers colours. 1 Chron. xxix. 2. 
He had flue emrauds set in golde, which were woorth 
flue hundred or sixe hundred crownes. 
Hakluyfs Voyages, II. 249. 
Never so rich a gem 
Was fi't in worse than gold. 
Shak.,M. of V., ii. 7. 55. 
12. To adorn with or as with one or more 
precious stones, or with ornaments of any kind ; 
stud : as, to set a miniature with diamonds; to 
set a snuff-box with pearls or gold beads ; a lawn 
set with statues and vases. 
Oon or two 
With gemmes fele aboute on hem ysette. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 74. 
High on their heads, with jewels richly set, 
Each lady wore a radiant coronet. 
Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 1. 167. 
A cup o' the good red goud, 
Weel set wi' jewels sae fair to see. 
Alison Gross (Child's Ballads), I. 169. 
He had a most rich George in a sardonyx set with dia- 
monds. Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 9, 1705. 
The old Knight . . . bid me observe how thick the 
City was set with Churches. Addison, Spectator. No. 383. 
A rosebud set with little wilful thorns. 
Tennyson, Princess, Prol. 
13. To reduce from a state of dislocation or 
fracture, and fix, if necessary, in a position suit- 
able for recovery: as, to set a bone or a leg. 
In order to get firm osseous union in a case of fracture, 
the great points to attend to are accurate apposition of 
the fragments and complete rest of the broken bone. Ac- 
curate apposition is termed "getting the fracture"; this is 
best done by the extension of the limb and coaptation of 
the broken surfaces. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 682. 
