set 
They very often made use of a ... Step called Setting, 
which I know not how to describe to you hut by telling 
you that it is the very reverse of Hack to Back. 
limtijrll. Spectator, No. 67. 
She . . . sometimes makes one in a country-dance, with 
only one of the chairs for a partner, . . . and seta to a 
corner cupboard. Goldsmith, citizen of the World, xxviii. 
A propensity on the part of that unlucky old lady . . . 
to amble about, and xct to inanimate objects, accompany- 
ing herself with a chattering noise, as in a witch dance. 
Dickens, Bleak House, \\xiii. 
10. To acquire a set or bend ; get out of shape ; 
become bent; warp: said of an angler's rod. 
11. To sit, as a broody hen: a wrong use, by 
confusion with Kit. To set about, to take the first 
steps in ; begin : as, to set about a business or enterprise. 
Why, as to reforming, Sir Peter, I'll make no promises, 
and that I take to be a proof that I intend to set about it. 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, v. 3. 
No nation in any age or in any part of the globe has 
failed to invent for itself a true and appropriate style of 
architecture whenever it chose to set about it in the right 
way. J. Ferguson, Hist. Arch., I. 45. 
To set alandt, to steer landward. 
He made his ship alonde for to sette. 
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 2186. 
To set around a pod. See pod. To set forth or for- 
ward, to begin to march ; advance. 
The sons of ershon and the sons of Merari set forward. 
Num. x. 17. 
I must away this night toward Padua, 
And it is meet I presently set forth. 
Shall., M. of V., iv. 1. 404. 
I take this as an unexpected favour, that thou shouldst 
get forth out of doors with me, to accompany me a little in 
my way. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 2:17. 
To set in. (a) To begin : as, winter in England usually 
sets in about December. 
Yet neither doe the wet or dry Seasons set in or go out 
exactly at one time in all Years ; neither are all places 
subject to wet or dry Weather alike. 
Dampier. Voyages, II. iii. 77. 
(6) To become settled in such or such a state. 
When the weather was set in to be very bad. Addison. 
(c) To flow toward the shore: as, the tide sets in: often 
used figuratively. 
A tide of fashion set in in favour of French in the Eng- 
land of the thirteenth century. 
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 159. 
(d) To reappear after temporary absence or disappearance, 
as a school of fish. (t) To go in ; make an onset or as- 
sault, 
Neuertheles thei sette in a-monge hem, for thei were 
moche peple and stronge, and the cristin hem resceyved 
full fiercely. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 588. 
They had allready devoured Uncass & his in their hops ; 
and surly they had done it in deed, if the English had not 
timly sett in for his aide. 
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 431. 
To set Off. (a) To start, as on a journey. 
Is it true . . . that you are setting off without taking 
leave of your friends? Goldsmith, Good-natured Man, v. 
(b) In printing, to deface or soil the next sheet : said of 
the ink on a newly printed sheet when another sheet 
comes in contact with it before it has had time to dry. 
To prevent setting-o/, the leaves after copying should be 
removed by blotting paper. 
Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 331. 
(ct) To make a show or appearance ; appear. 
I, now, but think how poor their spite sett off, 
Who, after all their waste of sulphurous terms, . . . 
Have nothing left but the unsavoury smoke. 
B. Jonson, Apol. to Poetaster. 
To set on. (a) [On, adv.] To begin; start; set out. 
In the dawnynge of the day loke yesette on alle to-geder 
ther as ye shull here an home blowe right high andlowde. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 383. 
Ha! what strange music? . . . 
How all the birds set on ! the fields redouble 
Their odoriferous sweets ! 
Fletcher {and another ?), Prophetess, v. 3. 
(6) [On (or upon), prep.] (1) To begin, as an enterprise. 
He that would seriously set upon the search of truth 
ought to prepare his mind with a love of it. Locke. 
(2) To make an attack ; assault : as, they all set upon him 
at once. See assail. 
We met with v. Rovers or men of war, whom we set vp- 
pon, and burnt their Admiral!, and brought those ships 
into Narr. Webbe, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 19. 
Gather we our forces out of hand, 
And set upon our boasting enemy. 
Shale., 1 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 103. 
It seems to me the time to ask Mr. Lyon to take a little 
rest, instead of setting on him like so many wasps. 
George Eliot, Felix Holt, xxiv. 
To set out. (a) To begin a journey, proceeding, or career : 
as, to set out for London ; to set out in business or in the 
world. 
Some there be that set out for this crown, and, after they 
have gone far for it, another comes in and takes it from 
them. Butiyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 152. 
Thus arm'd, he set out on a ramble alack ! 
He set out, poor dear Soul ! but he never came back ! 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 330. 
After residing at Cambridge two years, he [Temple] de- 
parted without taking a degree, ami x/'t out upon his trav- 
els. Macaulay, Sir William Temple. 
8628 
(6) To flow out; ebb: as, the tide sets out at 4 P. M. To 
Set to, to apply one's self; go at a piece of work. 
I wish you were a dog; I'd set to this minute, and . . . 
cut every strip of flesh from your liones with this whip. 
Chariot/I- llr'iiif-', 1'rofi'ssor, v. 
To Set up. (a) To begin business or a scheme of living : 
as, to set up in trade ; to set up for one's self. 
They say [she has gone) to keepe a Taverne in Foy, and 
that M. Spencer hath given her a stocke to set up for her 
selfe. Ueywood, Fair Maid of the West (Works, II. -27;.)! 
If not the tradesman who set up to-day, 
Much less the 'prentice who to morrow may. 
Pope, Epil. to Satires, ii. 38. 
At Bologna he had got into debt, and set up as tutor to 
the young archdeacons. 
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 140. 
(b) To make pretensions ; claim to be recognized, admired, 
or esteemed : as, he sets up for a man of wit. 
There is nothing more absurd than for a Man to set up 
for a Critick without a good Insight into all the Parts of 
Learning. Addison, Spectator, No. 291. 
Besides, it is found by experience that those men who 
set up for morality without regard to religion are gener- 
ally virtuous but in part. Swift, Testimony of Conscience. 
To set upon. See to set on (6). = Syn. Attac/c, Set upon, 
etc. See assail. 
set 1 (set), p. a. 1. Placed; located; station- 
ary ; fixed : as, a set range ; set tubs ; a set smirk. 
Why do you frown ? good gods, what a set anger 
Have you forc'd into your face ! come, I must temper you. 
Fletcher (and another), False One, iv. 2. 
His love-fit 's upon him ; 
I know it by that set smile and those congees. 
How courteous he 's to nothing ! 
Fletcher (and another"!), Nice Valour, i. 1. 
2. Fixed ; immovable. 
he 's drunk, Sir Toby, an hour agone, his eyes were set 
at eight 1' the morning. Shale., T. N., v. 1. 205. 
On coming up to him, he saw that Marner's eyes were 
set like a dead man's. George Eliot, Silas Marner, i. 
3. Regular; in due form; formal; deliberate: 
as, a set discourse ; of a battle, pitched. 
Eail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms, 
In good set terms, and yet a motley fool. 
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 17. 
I do not love set speeches nor long praises. 
Shirley, Love in a Maze, ii. 1. 
She had been ... to bright hay-making romps in the 
open air, but never to a set stately party at a friend's 
house. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxx. 
4. Fixed in opinion ; determined ; self-willed ; 
obstinate : as, a man set in his opinions or way. 
I se thou art sette my solace to reue [take away]. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iii. 487. 
No woman 's yet so fiercely set 
But she'll forgive, though not forget. 
Lady Anne Bothwell's Lament (Child's Ballads, IV. 127). 
He was an amazing set kind of man, the cap'n was, and 
would have his own way on sea or shore. 
S. 0. Jewett, Deephaven, p. 153. 
5. Established; prescribed; appointed: as, set 
forms of prayer. 
On a season isett assembled they bothe. 
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), 1. 339. 
An old Colledge Butler is none of the worst Students in 
the house, for he keepes the set houres at his booke more 
duly then any. 
Bp. Eurle, Micro-cosmographie, An Old Colledge Butler. 
We might now have expected that his own following 
Praier should add much credit to set Formes ; but on the 
contrary we find the same imperfections in it, as in most 
before, which he lays heer upon Extemporal. 
Milton, Eikonoklastes, xvi. 
And all sorts of set Mourning, both Black and Gray, and 
all other Furniture sutable to it, fit for any person of 
Quality. Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen 
[Anne, I. 60. 
The town of Berne is plentifully furnished with water, 
there being a great multitude of handsome fountains 
planted at set distances from one end of the streets to the 
other. 
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Holm, I. 619). 
6. Formed ; built ; made : noting the person : 
as, well set; thick-set. See set up, below. 
He [Butler] is of a middle stature, strong sett, high col- 
oured, a head of sorrell haire, a severe and sound judge- 
ment : a good fellowe. Aubrey, Lives, S. Butler. 
7. Astounded; stunned. HalliwcJI. [Prov. 
Eng.] A setmatcht. See matchi. Of set purpose, 
with deliberate intention ; designedly. 
For how should the brightness of wisdom shine where 
the windows of the soul are of very set purpose closed ? 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 2. 
She would fall out with, and anger him of set purpose. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 485. 
Set duster. See duster. Set piece (theat.), a piece of 
scenery only moderately high, and permitting more distant 
pieces to be seen over it,--Set scenes. See scene. Set 
speech, a speech carefully prepared beforehand ; elabo- 
rated discourse. 
1 affect not set speeches in a Historic. 
Hilton, Hist. Eng., ii. 
He [Pitt] was no speaker of set speeches. His few pre- 
pared discourses were complete failures. 
Macaulay, William Pitt. 
Setup, (a) Built; formed: noting the person : as, a tall 
man, and well net up. 
set 
Very pretty damsels, and well set up. 
R. D. Blackitwre, Lorna Doone, xxvii. 
(b) In the army, noting a man fitted by drill for military 
movements and parade. 
The scouts . . . are lithe, and naturally well set up, as 
the soldiers phrase it. The Century, XXXVIII. 644. 
(c) Unduly uplifted or elated, as by success or prosperity. 
[Colloq.J 
Our nineteenth century is wonderfully set up in its own 
esteem. The Century, XXVIII. 116. 
Sharp-set, keen, as a saw ; hence, figuratively, eager ; 
keen in the pursuit of any end; keenly resentful ; also, very 
hungry ; ravenous. 
The News of this Massacre, adding a new Edge of Re- 
venge to the old Edge of Ambition, made the Danes 
sharper get against the English than ever they had been 
before. Baker, Chronicles, p. 13. 
The perplexity of mannerlinesse will not let him feed, 
and he is sharpe set at an argument when hee should cut 
his meate. 
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Downe-right Scholler. 
By this light she looks as sharp-set as a sparrow-hawk I 
Fletcher, Wit without Money, v. 4. 
It is a well-known sporting-house, and the breakfasts 
are famous. Two or three men in pink, on their way to 
the meet, drop in, and are very jovial and sharp-set, as in- 
deed we all are. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, L 4. 
set 1 (set), n. [Early mod. E. also sett (still used 
archaically), sette; <. seft,i). According to Skeat, 
set, in the sense of 'a number of things or per- 
sons belonging together,' etc., is a conniption 
of sept 1 and ult. of sect 1 .] 1. A young plant fit 
for setting out ; a slip; shoot: as, sets of white- 
thorn or other shrub; onion sets. 
Syon, a yong sette. Palsgrave. 
2. A rudimentary fruit : used especially of ap- 
ples, pears, peaches, etc. : as, the peaches set 
well, but the sets all dropped off. Compare 
set 1 , t'. ., 3. 3. The setting of the sun or other 
luminary; hence, the close, as of a day. 
The weary sun hath made a golden set. 
Shale., Rich. III., v. 3. 19. 
If the sun shine pale, and fall into blacke clouds in his 
set, It signifleth the winde is shifting into the North 
quarter. Ueywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 183. 
Thou that faintly smilest still, 
As a Naiad in a well, 
Looking at the set of day. 
Tennyson, Adeline. 
4f. A venture ; a wager ; a stake ; hence, a 
game of chance; a match. 
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls, 
We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set. 
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard. 
Shak., Hen. V., i. 2. 262. 
I would buy your pardon, 
Though at the highest set ; even with my life. 
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, iv. 1. 
I give o'er the set, throw down the cards. 
Middleman, Chaste Maid, 11. 1. 
5. General movement; direction; drift; ten- 
dency: used both literally and figuratively. 
Individuals, alive to the particular evils of the age, and 
watching the very set of the current. De Quincey, Style, i. 
The set of opinion in England at present. 
Davson, Nature and the Bible, App. C, p. 244. 
When the storm winds prevail, the set is strong from the 
east. Scribner's May., VIII. 101. 
6. Build; conformation; form; hence, bearing ; 
carriage : said of the person. 
A goodly gentleman, 
Of a more manly set I never look'd on. 
Beau, and Fl., Custom of the Country, v. 6. 
Should any young lady incline to imitate Gwendolen, 
let her consider the set of her head and neck. 
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, vii. 
He was a young man, and not over middle height ; but 
there was something effective and picturesque in the set 
of his strongly built frame. Harpers Mag., LXXVI. 291. 
7. A permanent change of shape caused by 
pressure or by being retained long in one po- 
sition; a bend, warp, or kink; hence, figura- 
tively, a mental or moral warp or bias of char- 
acter. 
The behaviour of men to domestic animals must have 
been, on the whole, more kind than the reverse. Had it 
been otherwise, the set of the brute's brains, according to 
modern theory, would have been that of shyness and dread 
of us. F. P. Cobbe, Peak In Darien, p. 137. 
8f. A settled state. 
Y heate with a long net of faire and warm weather had 
even ignited the aire and prepar'd the materials to con- 
ceive the fire. Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 3, 1666. 
9. The lateral deflection of a saw-tooth ; the 
effect produced in a saw by bending alternate 
teeth slightly in opposite directions. See cuts 
under saw-set. 
The less set a saw has, the less wood it wastes. 
Ure, Diet, IV. 961. 
10f. One of the plaits or flutings of a ruff; also, 
such plaited or fluted work. 
The set of my ruff looked like so many organ pipes. 
Randolph, Hey for Uonestie. 
