set 
11. In plastering, the last coat of plaster on 
walls prepared for papering. 12. Young oys- 
ters, planted or fit for planting: occasionally 
used improperly for spat or spawn; also, a bed 
or plant of young oysters. Compare strike, seed. 
At only a few places does a breed of oysters, or a set, as 
it is termed, occur with any regularity, or of any conse- 
quence. Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 516. 
13. In mining: (a) A mine or number of mines 
(including the area necessary for their work- 
ing) taken on lease: used with this meaning in 
Cornwall and Devon chiefly, but also to some 
extent in other coal-mining districts of Eng- 
land. Not used in the United States. (6) One 
of the frames of timber which support the roof 
and sides of a level : same as durns, durnz, or 
durnze (see dwrw 1 ) ; also, one of the horizontal 
members of the timbering by which a shaft is 
supported. 
A gallery requires what are called frames (sets or 
durnzes) for its proper support. A complete frame con- 
sists of a sole-piece (foot-piece, sill, or sleeperX two side 
props (legs or arms), and a crown (cap or collar). 
Gallon, Lectures on Mining (trans.), i. 257. 
(c) In some coal-mining districts of England, 
nearly the same as lift 2 , 6 (6). (d) A measure 
of length along the face of a stall by which 
holers and drivers are paid: it is usually from 
6 to 10 feet. Gresley. [Midland coal-fields, 
Eng.] In all these senses commonly spelled 
sett. 14. The pattern or combination of col- 
ors of a tartan. [Scotch.] 
A tartan plaid, spun of good hawslock woo, 
Scarlet and green the sets, the borders blew. 
Ramsay, Gentle Shepherd (ed. 1852^ i. 1. 
The petticoat was formed of tartan silk, in the set or pat- 
tern of which the colour of blue greatly predominated. 
Scott, Legend of Montrose, ix. 
15. lu theaters, a set scene. See set 1 , p. a., and 
scene. 1 6. In type-founding, the type-founder's 
adjustment of space between types of the same 
font. Types with too much blank on one or both 
sides are wide-set ; with too little space, close- 
set. 17. In whaling: (a) Astroke; a thrust: as, 
a set of the lance. (t>) A chance or opportunity 
to strike with the lance : as, he got a good set, 
and missed. 18. In much. : (a) A tool used to 
close the plates around a rivet before upsetting 
the point of the latter to form the second head. 
(b) An iron bar bent into two right angles on 
the same side, used in dressing forged iron. E. 
H. Knight, (c) A hook-wrench having three 
sides equal and the fourth long, to serve as a 
lever. It is a form of key, spanner, or screw- 
wrench for turning bolts, etc. 19. In saddle- 
ry, the filling beneath the ground-seat of a sad- 
dle, which serves to bring the top seat to its 
shape. IS. H. Knight. 20. A number of things 
which belong together and are intended to be 
used together, (a) Such a collection when the arti- 
cles are all alike in appearance and use : as, aset of chairs : 
a get of table-knives ; a set of buttons ; a set of dominoes ; 
a set of teeth. 
I'll give my Jewels for a set of beads. 
Shak., Rich. II., iii. 3. 147. 
A set o 
above m 
r pack of cards, but not equally ancient with those 
entioned, were in the possession of Dr. Stukeley. 
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 432. 
(&) Such a collection when of varied character and pur- 
pose, but intended to be used together and generally of 
similar or harmonizing design : as, a set of parlor furni- 
ture; a dinner-set; a toilet-se(. Set was formerly used spe- 
cifically of horses, to mean six, as distinguished from a pair 
or four-in-hand. 
He found the windows and streets exceedingly throng- 
ed, . . . and in many places sets of loud music. 
England's Joy (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 30). 
Shortly after, Bourchier, returning into England, he 
bought a most rich Coach and Curious Sett of Six Horses 
to it. T. Lucas, in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen 
[Anne, I. iii. 
Here to-day about five o'clock arrived Lady Sarah Sad- 
leir and Lady Betty Lawrence, each in her chariot-and- 
six. Dowagers love equipage, and these cannot travel ten 
miles without a sett. Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, VI. 226. 
21. A number of things having some other re- 
lation to each other, as resemblance or natu- 
ral affinity. 
There are a set of heads that can credit the relations of 
mariners, yet question the testimonies of St. Paul 
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 21. 
I say a set rather than a "series," because the articles 
were written on various occasions, and have therefore lit- 
tle formal connection, or necessary logical sequence. 
Nineteenth Century, XIX. 60. 
22. A number of persons customarily or offi- 
cially associated: as, a set of bankers; a set of 
officers ; or a number of persons drawn together 
by some affinity, as of taste, character, posi- 
tion, or pursuits; hence, a clique or coterie: 
as, he belonged to the fast set. 
5526 
There's nothing we Beaus take more Pride in than a 
Sett of Genteel Footmen. 
Tunbridge Walla, quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign 
[of Queen Anne, I. 76. 
We should be as weary of one Set of Acquaintance, tho' 
never so good, as we are of one Suit tho' never so fine. 
Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 10. 
This set of ladies, indeed, as they daily do duty at court, 
are much more expert in the use of their airs and graces 
than their female antagonists, who are most of them bred 
in the country. Addison, Meeting of the Association. 
Choose well your set ; our feeble nature seeks 
The aid of clubs, the countenance of cliques. 
O. W. Uolmes, Urania. 
23. A number of particular things that are 
united in the formation of a whole : as, a set of 
features. 24. In music and dancing: (a) The 
five figures or movements of a quadrille or a 
country-dance. (b) The music adapted to a 
quadrille. 
Then the discreet automaton [at the piano] . . . played 
a blossomless, tuneless set. 
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, i. 11. 
(c) The number of couples required to execute 
a square dance. 
Emma was . . . delighted to see the respectable length 
of the set as it was forming, and to feel that she had so 
many hours of unusual festivity before her. 
Jane Austen, Emma, xxxviii. 
Quadrilles were being systematically got through by two 
or three sets of dancers. Dickens, Pickwick, ii. 
25. One of a number of games or matches 
which together make up a series: as, A won 
the first set, B the second and third sets. 
26. In ornith., specifically, the number of eggs 
found in one nest at any time; especially, the 
full number of eggs laid by any bird before 
incubation; a clutch A dead set. (a) The act of 
a setter dog when it finds the game, and stands stiffly 
pointing; a point (originally, the crouching attitude of 
the setter when making a point, now wholly obsolete). 
(b) A state or condition which precludes further progress. 
(c) A concerted scheme to defraud a player in gaming. 
Grose, (d) A determined stand in argument or in pro- 
ceeding ; a determined attack. [Colloq.] 
There should be a little filagree about a woman some- 
thing of the coquette. . . . The more of a dead set she 
makes at you the better. George Eliot, Middlemarch, x. 
Clock-set, a set of three or more decorative pieces of 
which the centerpiece is a clock, usually of bronze or 
porcelain wholly or in part. Egg-set, a set of egg-cups 
and spoons with a stand for holding boiled eggs, or, in 
some cases, an egg-boiler with sand-glass and often sepa- 
rate salt-cellars, the whole forming a more or less decora- 
tive set. First set, in whaling. See first. Harlequin 
set. See harlequin. Render and set; render, float, 
and set. See render. Set or sett of a burgh, in 
Scots law, the constitution of a burgh. The sets are either 
established by immemorial usage, or were at some time or 
other modeled by the convention of burghs. Set Of ex- 
change, the different parts of a bill of exchange (the bill 
and its duplicates), which are said to constitute a set. 
Each part is complete by itself, but the parts are num- 
bered successively, and when one part is paid the others 
become useless. Set of the reed. Same as number of 
the reed (which see, under number). Sets and eyes of 
potatoes, slices of the tubers of the potato for planting, 
each slice having at least one eye or bud. 
set 2 (set), v. i. A dialectal variant of sit, com- 
mon in rustic use. 
set 2 (set). A form of the preterit and past par- 
ticiple of sit, now usually regarded, in the 
preterit, as an erroneous form of sat, or, in the 
past participle, as identical with set, past par- 
ticiple of sefl. See sit. 
When he was set, his disciples came unto him. 
Mat. v. 1. 
set 2 (set), . [Avar, of mf.] Fit ; way of con- 
forming to the lines of the figure. 
"The Marchioness of Granby," with her graceful figure 
in profile, her hands at her waist, and her head turned 
towards you as though she were looking at the set of her 
dress in a glass. The Academy, May 25, 1889, p. 366. 
set 3 t- A Middle English contracted form of set- 
teth, third person singular present indicative 
of set)-. 
seta (se'ta), n.; pi. setse (-te). [NL., < L. 
seta, ssetd, a thick stiff hair, a bristle; etym. 
doubtful.] 1. In zool. and ana*., a bristle; a 
chseta; a stiff, stout hair; a fine, slender spine 
or prickle; any setaceous appendage, (a) One 
of the bristles of swine and other mammals. See Settfera. 
(V) One of the rough hairy appendages of the legs or other 
parts of crustaceans. See cut under Podophthalmia. (c) 
One of the mouth-parts characteristic of hemipterous 
insects; a bristle. These lie within the rostrum; the 
upper pair, or superior setae, are the mandibles, and the 
lower pair, or inferior seta?, are the maxilla?. See cut un- 
der mosquito, (d) A vibrissa ; a rictal bristle, asof abird, 
or one of the whiskers of a cat Such setae show well in 
the cut under Platyrhynchus. See also setirostral, and cuts 
under Antrostomus, panther, and serval. (e) A chseta ; one 
of the setaceous appendages of the parapodia of a chajto- 
pod worm. These are supposed to be tactile seta? in some 
cases. See cuts under Polynoe and pygidium. (/) In In- 
fusoria, & hair-like flexible but non-vibratile cilium. W. 
S. Kent. 
2. In bot., a bristle of any sort; a stiff hair; a 
slender, straight prickle; also, the stalk that 
Sethite 
supports the theca, capsule, or sporangium of 
mosses. 
setaceous (se-ta'shius), a. [< NL. setaceus, < 
L. seta, sseta, a hair, bristle: see seta. Cf. 
.s-cni-ce.] 1. In aa/. and zool.: (a) Bristly; seti- 
form; having the character of a seta, cheeta, 
or bristle, (b) Bristling; setiferous or seti- 
gerous ; setose ; provided with bristles or stiff, 
stout hairs. 2. In bot., bristle-shaped; hav- 
ing the character of setse : as, a setaceous leaf 
or leaflet Setaceous antenna or palpi, in entom., 
antennae or palpi in which the joints are cylindrical, and 
closely fitted together, and the outer ones are somewhat 
more slender than the others. They are a variety of the 
filiform type. 
setaceously (se-ta'shius-li),-arfi;. In bot., in a 
setaceous manner; so as to form or possess 
seta?. 
setal (se'tal), a. [< seta + -al.'] Of or pertain- 
ing to setse : as, the setal bands of a brachio- 
pod, which may run along the pallial margin 
and denote the site of the setse. T. Davidson. 
Setaria (se-ta'ri-a), n. [NL. (Beauvois, 1807), 
so called from the awned flower-spikes: see 
setarious.'] A genus of grasses, of the tribe 
Panicese. It is characterized by flowers with four 
glumes, all crowded into a dense cylindrical spike or a 
narrow thyrsus, the joints of which are set with rigid 
bristles much longer than the ovate spikelets. There 
are about 10 species, very variable and difficult of distinc- 
tion, widely scattered through both tropical and temper- 
ate regions, and some of them now cosmopolitan weeds of 
cultivated land. They are annuals with flat leaves and 
bristly spikes which are sometimes long and tail-like, 
whence their popular names foxtail and pusstail. (For 
S. Jtalica, see Italian millet (under millet) and Bengal 
grass (under grass). For 5. ylauca. also known as bottle- 
grass, see pigeon-grass.) S. mridis, the green foxtail-grass, 
which accompanies the last, also furnishes an inferior 
hay, and its seeds are a favorite food of poultry. 
setarious (se-ta'ri-us), a. [< NL. setarius, < L. 
seta, a bristle: see seta.] In entom., ending in 
or bearing a bristle; aristate: specifically not- 
ing aristate antennse in which the arista is 
naked: opposed toplumate. 
set-back (set'bak), n. 1. Same as backset, I. 
[U.S.] 
Every point gained by the political conservative is a 
set-back and a hindrance to the attainment of the liberal's 
greatest ends. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXIII. 166. 
2. Same as bad-set, 2. [U.S.] 3. A pool or 
overflow setting back over the land, as from a 
freshet. [U. S.] 4. In arch., a flat plain set- 
off in a wall. 
set-bolt (set'bolt), n. In ship-building, an iron 
bolt for faying planks close to each other, or 
for forcing another bolt out of its hole. 
set-down (set'doun), n. A depressing or hu- 
miliating rebuke or reprehension ; a rebuff ; 
an unexpected and overwhelming answer or 
reply. 
sete 1 !. A Middle English spelling of neat and 
sat. Chaucer. 
sete a t, a. [ME., also sety, < Icel. sxtt, endura- 
ble, suitable, (xitja, sit: seesit.] Suitable; fit. 
Take ij. of the ffysshmongers, to be indifferently chosen 
and sworn, to se that alle suche vytelle be able and sete 
for mannys body. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 397. 
And his Alekonner with hym, to taste and vndirstand 
that the ale be gode, able, and .-<<//. 
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 425. 
sete*t, " A Middle English form of city. 
setee, n. See settee*. 
setelt, . A Middle English form of settle 1 . 
setent. A Middle English form of the past par- 
ticiple of sit. 
Seterdayt, n. An obsolete form of Saturday. 
setewalet, An obsolete form of setwall. 
set-fair (set'far), . 1. The coat of plaster used 
after roughing in, and floated, or pricked up 
and floated. 2. A word sometimes inscribed 
on barometers at a point where the instrument 
is supposed to indicate settled fair weather. 
Also set fair. 
set-foil (set'foil), n. Same as septfoil. [Rare.] 
set-gun (set'gun), n. A spring-gun. 
seth ! t, adv. Same as sithl for since. 
seth 2 , n. Same as saith?. 
set-hammer (sefham^er), H. A hammer of 
which the handle is not wedged, but merely in- 
serted or set in. It is the form used for being 
struck on the work with a sledge-hammer. 
setheH, A Middle English form of seethe. 
sethe 2 t, " An obsolete form of saith%. 
sethent, adv. Same as sithen for since. 
Sethian (seth'i-an), n. Same as Sethite. 
Sethite (seth'It), n. [< LL. "Setliitit, Sethoitie, 
< Xcth (see def.).J One of a branch of the Gnos- 
tic sect of Ophites. They received their name from 
the fact that they regarded Seth, the son of Adam, as the 
