settle 
From the bottom [of the altar] upon the ground even to 
the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one 
iMibit ; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle 
shall be lour cubits. Ezek. xliii. 14. 
The altar (independently of the bottom) was composed 
of two stages called settles, the base of the upper settle 
being less than that of the lower. 
Bible Commentary, on Ezek. xliii. 14. 
Box-settle, a settle the seat of which is formed by the 
top of a chest or coffer. Long settle, a bench, longer 
than the ordinary modern settle, with a high solid back 
which often reached to the floor. As a protection against 
drafts, these settles were ranged along the walls of an- 
cient halls, und drawn toward the ftre in cold weather. 
settle 1 (set/1), v. ; pret. and pp. settled, ppr. 
xi'ltling. [< ME. settlen, setlen, also stitlclcn, xl- 
tlen, sullen, tr. cause to rest, intr. sink to rest, 
subside, < AS. setlan, fix, = D. zetelen, < setel, a 
seat (setl-f/aiif/, the setting of the sun), = Icel. 
sjotlask, settle, subside: see settle^-, n. This 
verb has been confused with another verb, 
which has partly conformed to it : see settle'^.'] 
1. trans. 1. To place in a fixed or permanent 
position or condition ; confirm ; establish, as 
for residence or business. 
Til that youre [restored) sighte ysatled be a while, 
Ther may ful many a sighte yow bigile. 
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 1161. 
But I will settle him in mine house, and in my kingdom 
for ever. 1 Chron. xvii. 14. 
The God of all grace . . . stablish, strengthen, settle 
you. 1 Pet. v. 10. 
The land Salique is in Germany, . . . 
Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxons, 
There left behind and settled certain French. 
Shak., Hen. V., 1. 2. 47. 
Settled in his face I see 
Sad resolution. Milton, P. L, vi. 540. 
That the glory of the City may not be laid upon the tears 
of the Orphans and Widows, but that its foundations may 
be setled upon Justice and Piety. 
Stittingfleet, Sermons, I. i. 
2. To establish or fix, as in any way of life, or 
in any business, office, or charge : as, to settle 
a young man in a trade or profession ; to settle 
a daughter by marriage ; to settle a clergyman 
in a parish. 
The father thought the time drew on 
Of settling in the world his only son. Dryden. 
I therefore have resolved to settle thee, and chosen a 
young lady, witty, prudent, rich, and fair. 
Steele, Lying Lover, ii. 1. 
3. To set or fix, as in purpose or intention. 
Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before 
what ye shall answer. Luke xxi. 14. 
Hoping, through the blessing of God. it would be a 
means, in that unsettled state, to settle their affections 
towards us. Good News from New-England, in Appendix 
[to New England's Memorial, p. 367. 
4. To adjust; put in position; cause to sit 
properly or firmly : as, to settle one's cloak in 
the wind; to settle one's feet in the stirrups. 
Yet scarce he on his back could get, 
So oft and high he did curvet, 
Ere he himself could settle. 
Drayton, Nymphidia. 
5. To change from a disturbed or troubled 
state to one of tranquillity, repose, or security ; 
quiet; still; hence, to calm the agitation of; 
compose : as, to settle the mind when disturbed 
or agitated. 
How still he sits ! I hope this song has settled him. 
Fletcher, Mad Lover, iv. 1. 
'Sfoote, 
The Duke's sonne ! settle your lookes. 
Tourneur, Revenger's Tragedy, i. 3. 
King Eichard at his going out of England had so well 
settled the Government of the Kingdom that it might well 
have kept in good Order during all the Time of his Ab- 
sence. Baker, Chronicles, p. 84. 
Sir Paul, if you please, we'll retire to the Ladies, and 
drink a Dish of Tea, to settle our heads. 
Congreve, Double- Dealer, I. 4. 
6. (a) To change from a turbid or muddy con- 
dition to one of clearness ; clear of dregs ; 
clarify. 
So working seas settle and purge the wine. 
Sir J. Dames, Immortal, of Soul, Int. 
(6) To cause to sink to the bottom, as sedi- 
ment. 7. To render compact, firm, or solid; 
hence, to bring to a dry, passable condition : 
as, the fine weather will settle the roads. 
Thou waterest her furrows abundantly ; thou seltlest 
[margin, lowerest] the ridges thereof. 
Ps. Ixv. 10 (revised version). 
Cover ant-hills up, that the rain may settle the turf be- 
fore the spring. Mortimer, Husbandry. 
8. To plant with inhabitants ; colonize ; peo- 
ple : as, the Puritans settled New England. 
No colony in America was ever settled under such favor- 
able auspices as that which has just commenced at the 
Muskingum. 
Wanhuifftnn, quoted in Bancroft's Hist. Const., II. 117. 
Provinces \\rsisettled after the flood. Mitford. 
5529 
9. To devolve, make over, or secure by formal 
or legal process or act: as, to net t If an annuity 
on a person Settled estate, in law, an estate held 
by some tenant for life, under conditions, more or less 
strict, defined by the deed. - Settled Estates Act, any 
one of a number of modern English statutes (1856, 1874, 
1876, 1877), facilitating the leasing and sale, through the 
Court of Chancery, etc., of estates held subject to limita- 
tions or in trust. See settlement. Settled Land Act, 
either of the English statutes of 1882 (45 and 46 Viet, 
c. 38) and 1884(47 and 48 Viet., c. 18), which authorize the 
sale, exchange, or leasing of land, including heirlooms, 
limited or in trust by way of succession. To settle the 
land, to cause it to appear to sink by receding from it. 
To settle the topsail-halyards (naut.), to ease off the 
halyards a little so as to lower the yard slightly. =Syn. 1. 
To tlx, institute, ordain. 
II. intraus. 1. To become set or fixed; as- 
sume a continuing, abiding, or lasting position, 
form, or condition; become stationary, from a 
temporary or changing state ; stagnate. 
Out, alas! she 'scold; 
Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff. 
Shak., R. and J., iv. 5. 26. 
I was but just settling to work. 
Dainpier, Voyages, II. ii. 128. 
The Heat with which thy Lover glows 
Will settle into cold Respect. Prior, Ode, st. 5. 
The Opposition, like schoolboys, don't know how to 
settle to their books again after the holidays. 
Walpole, Letters, II. 498. 
And ladies came, and by and by the town 
Flow'd in, and settling circled all the lists. 
Tennyson, Geraint. 
The narrow strip of land ... on which the name of 
Dalmatia has fettled down has a history which is strikingly 
analogous to its scenery. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 85. 
2. To establish a residence; take up perma- 
nent habitation or abode. 
Before the introduction of written documents and title- 
deeds, the people spread over the country and settled 
wherever they pleased. 
D. W. Ross, German Land-holding, Notes, p. 171. 
Now, tell me, could you dwell content 
In such a baseless tenement? . . . 
Because, if you would settle in it, 
"Iwere built for love in half a minute. 
F. Locker, Castle in the Air. 
3. To be established in a way of life; quit an 
irregular and desultory for a methodical life ; 
be established in an employment or profession ; 
especially, to enter the married state or the 
state of a householder, or to be ordained or in- 
stalled over a church or congregation: as, to 
settle inlife: often with down. [Largely colloq.] 
Having flown over many knavish professions, he settled 
only in rogue. Shak., W. T., iv. 3. 106. 
Why don't you marry, and settle? 
Swtft, Polite Conversation, i. 
My landlady had been a lady's maid, or a nurse, in the 
family of the Bishop of Bangor, and had but lately mar- 
ried away and settled (as such people express it) for life. 
De Quincey, Opium Eater (reprint of 1st ed.), p. 25. 
4. To become clear; purify itself; become 
clarified, as a liquid. 
Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath 
settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel 
to vessel : . . . therefore his taste remaineth in him. 
Jer. xlviii. 11. 
5. To sink down more or less gradually; sub- 
side ; descend : often with on or upon . 
Huntyng holliche that day . . . 
Till the semli sunne was settled to rest. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2452. 
Muche sorje thenne satteled vpon segge [the man] lonas. 
Alliterative Poems(eA. Morris), iii. 409. 
As doth the day light settle in the west, 
So dim is David's glory and his gite. 
Peele, David and Bethsabe. 
Specifically (a) To fall to the bottom, as sediment, 
By the settling of mud and limous matter brought down 
by the river Nilus, that which was at first a continued sea 
was raised at last into a arm and habitable country. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vi. 8. 
This reservoir is meant to keep up a stock, and to allow 
mud, etc., to settle out. 
O'Neill, Dyeing and Calico Printing, p. 450. 
(b) To sink, as the foundations or floors of a building ; be- 
come lowered, as by the yielding of earth or timbers be- 
neath : as, the house has settled, (c) To become compact 
and hard by drying : as, the roads settle after rain or the 
melting of snow, (d) To alight, as a bird on a bough or 
on the ground. 
And, yet more splendid, numerous flocks 
Of pigeons, settling on the rocks. 
Moore, Lalla Rookh, Paradise and the Peri. 
6. To become calm ; cease to be agitated. 
Then, till the fury of his highness settle, 
Come not before him. Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 482. 
7. To resolve; determine; decide; fix: as, they 
have not yet settled on a house. 
I am settled, and bend up 
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. 
Shak., Macbeth, i. 7. 79. 
8. To make a jointure for a wife. 
He sighs with most success that settles well. Garth. 
settled 
settle 2 (set'l), r. ; pret. and pp. settled, ppr. set- 
tliiKj. [< ME. sagtleti,tilitU-n, fni/i/ictden, sau^t- 
It'ii, reconcile, make peace, also become calm, 
subside, < AS. saht/ian, reconcile, < galtt, recon- 
ciliation, adjustment of a lawsuit: see saui/lit. 
This verb has been confused in form and sense 
with settle^, from which it cannot now be 
wholly separated.] I. trans. If. To reconcile. 
For when a sawele is sagtled & sakred to drygtyn, 
He holly haldes hit his & haue hit he wolde. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 1139. 
2. To determine; decide, as something in 
doubt or debate ; bring to a conclusion ; con- 
clude ; confirm ; free from uncertainty or wa- 
vering: as, to settle a dispute; to settle a vexa- 
tious question; to settle one's mind. 
1 am something wavering in my faith : 
Would you settle me, and swear 'tis so ! 
Fletcher (and another), Noble Gentleman, iii. 1. 
The governour told them that, being come to settle peace, 
etc., they might proceed in three distinct respects. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 81. 
It will settle the wavering, and confirm the doubtful. 
Swift. 
When the pattern of the gown is settled with the milli- 
ner, I fancy the terror on Mrs. Baynes's wizened face when 
she ascertains the amount of the bill. 
Thackeray, Philip, xxiii. 
We are in these days settling for ourselves and our de- 
scendants questions which, as they shall be determined 
in one way or the other, will make the peace and prosper- 
ity or the calamity of the next ages. 
Emerson, Fortune of the Republic. 
3. To fix; appoint; set, as a date or day. 
The next day we had two blessed meetings ; one amongst 
friends, being the first monthly meeting that was settled 
for Vrieslandt Penn, Travels in Holland, etc. 
4. To set in order; regulate; dispose of. 
Men should often be put in remembrance to take order 
for the settling of their temporal estates whilst they are in 
health. Book of Common Prayer, Visitation of the Sick. 
I several months since made my will, settled my estate, 
and took leave of my friends. Steele, Taller, No. 164. 
His wife is all over the house, up stairs and down, set- 
tling things for her absence at church. 
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 69. 
5. To reduce to order or good behavior; give 
a quietus to : as, he was inclined to be insolent, 
but I soon settled him. [Colloq.] 6. To liqui- 
date ; balance ; pay : as, to settle an account, 
claim, or score To settle one's hash. See hashi. 
II. intrans. If. To become reconciled; beat 
peace. 
I salle hym surelye ensure that mghelylle salle we never. 
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 330. 
The se sagtled ther-with, as sone as ho mojt. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iii. 232. 
2. To adjust differences, claims, or accounts ; 
come to an agreement: as, he has settled with 
his creditors. 
" Why, hang it all, man, you don't mean to say your 
father has not settled with you? " Philip blushed a little. 
He had been rather surprised that there had been no set- 
tlement between him and his father. 
Thackeray, Philip, xiv. 
Hence 3. To pay one's bill; discharge a 
claim or demand. [Colloq.] 
settle-bed (set'1-bed), n. 1. A bed which forms 
a settle or settee by day ; a folding bed. Com- 
pare sofa-bed. 
Our maids in the coachman's bed, the coachman with 
the boy in his settle-bed, and Tom where he uses to lie. 
Pepys, Diary, IV. 112. 
But he kept firm his purpose, until his eyes involunta- 
rily rested upon the little settle-bed and recalled the form 
of the child of his old age, as she sate upon it, pale, ema- 
ciated, and broken-hearted. 
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xix. 
2. A small bed having a narrow canopy: prob- 
ably so called from the resemblance of this 
to the small canopy sometimes attached to a 
settle. 
settled 1 (set 'Id), p. a. [Pp. of settle^-, v.] 1. 
Fixed; established; steadfast; stable. 
Thou art the Rocke, draw'st all things, all do'st guide, 
Yet in deep setled rest do'st still abide. 
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 107. 
All these being against her, whom hath she on her Side 
but her own Subjects, Papists yesterday and to-day Prot- 
estants ! who being scarce settled in their Religion, how 
shall they be settled in their Loyalty ? 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 330. 
His virtuous toil may terminate at last 
In settled habit and decided taste. 
Cowper, Tirocinium, 1. 778. 
A land of settled government, 
A land of just and old renown, 
Where Freedom broadens slowly down 
From precedent to precedent. 
Tennyson, You ask me why, tho' ill at ease. 
2. Permanently or deeply fixed; firmly seated; 
decided; resolved: as, a settled gloom; a set- 
tled conviction. 
