catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  
        (a) 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.
        (b) To extend and bring into position; to spread; as, to
            set the sails of a ship.
        (c) To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the
            keynote; as, to set a psalm. --Fielding.
        (d) To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state; to
            replace; as, to set a broken bone.
        (e) To make to agree with some standard; as, to set a
            watch or a clock.
        (f) (Masonry) To lower into place and fix solidly, as the
            blocks of cut stone in a structure.
  
     6. 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.
  
     7. 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.
  
     8. To determine; to appoint; to assign; to fix; as, to set a
        time for a meeting; to set a price on a horse.
  
     9. 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.
  
     10. 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.
  
     11. To point out the seat or position of, as birds, or other
         game; -- said of hunting dogs.
  
     12. To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to
         assign; as, to set an example; to set lessons to be
         learned.
  
     13. To suit; to become; as, it sets him ill. [Scot.]
  
     14. (Print.) To compose; to arrange in words, lines, etc.;
         as, to set type; to set a page.
  
     To set abroach. See Abroach. [Obs.] --Shak.
  
     To set against, to oppose; to set in comparison with, or to
        oppose to, as an equivalent in exchange; as, to set one
        thing against another.
  
     To set agoing, to cause to move.
  
     To set apart, to separate to a particular use; to separate
        from the rest; to reserve.
  
     To set a saw, to bend each tooth a little, every alternate
        one being bent to one side, and the intermediate ones to
        the other side, so that the opening made by the saw may be
        a little wider than the thickness of the back, to prevent
        the saw from sticking.
  
     To set aside.
         (a) To leave out of account; to pass by; to omit; to
             neglect; to reject; to annul.
  
                   Setting aside all other considerations, I will
                   endeavor to know the truth, and yield to that.
                                                    --Tillotson.
         (b) To set apart; to reserve; as, to set aside part of
             one's income.
         (c) (Law) See under Aside.
  
     To set at defiance, to defy.
  
     To set at ease, to quiet; to tranquilize; as, to set the
        heart at ease.
  
     To set at naught, to undervalue; to contemn; to despise.
        ``Ye have set at naught all my counsel.'' --Prov. i. 25.
        
  
     To set a trap, snare, or gin, to put it in a proper
        condition or position to catch prey; hence, to lay a plan
        to deceive and draw another into one's power.
  
     To set at work, or To set to work.
         (a) To cause to enter on work or action, or to direct how
             tu enter on work.
         (b) To apply one's self; -- used reflexively.
  
     To set before.
         (a) To bring out to view before; to exhibit.
         (b) To propose for choice to; to offer to.
  
     To set by.
         (a) To set apart or on one side; to reject.
         (b) To attach the value of (anything) to. ``I set not a
             straw by thy dreamings.'' --Chaucer.
  
     To set by the compass, to observe and note the bearing or
        situation of by the compass.
  
     To set case, to suppose; to assume. Cf. Put case, under
        Put, v. t. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
  
     To set down.
         (a) To enter in writing; to register.
  
                   Some rules were to be set down for the
                   government of the army.          --Clarendon.
         (b) To fix; to establish; to ordain.
  
                   This law we may name eternal, being that order
                   which God . . . hath set down with himself, for
                   himself to do all things by.     --Hooker.
         (c) To humiliate.
  
     To set eyes on, to see; to behold; to fasten the eyes on.
        
  
     To set fire to, or To set on fire, to communicate fire
        to; fig., to inflame; to enkindle the passions of; to
        irritate.
  
     To set flying (Naut.), to hook to halyards, sheets, etc.,
        instead of extending with rings or the like on a stay; --
        said of a sail.
  
     To set forth.
         (a) To manifest; to offer or present to view; to exhibt;
             to display.
         (b) To publish; to promulgate; to make appear. --Waller.
         (c) To send out; to prepare and send. [Obs.]
  
                   The Venetian admiral had a fleet of sixty
                   galleys, set forth by the Venetians. --Knolles.
  
     To set forward.
         (a) To cause to advance.
         (b) To promote.
  
     To set free, to release from confinement, imprisonment, or
        bondage; to liberate; to emancipate.
  
     To set in, to put in the way; to begin; to give a start to.
        [Obs.]
  
              If you please to assist and set me in, I will
              recollect myself.                     --Collier.
  
     To set in order, to adjust or arrange; to reduce to method.
        ``The rest will I set in order when I come.'' --1 Cor. xi.
        34.
  
     To set milk.
         (a) To expose it in open dishes in order that the cream
             may rise to the surface.
         (b) To cause it to become curdled as by the action of
             rennet. See 4
         (e) .
  
     To set much, or little, by, to care much, or little,
        for.
  
     To set of, to value; to set by. [Obs.] ``I set not an haw
        of his proverbs.'' --Chaucer.
  
     To set off.
         (a) To separate from a whole; to assign to a particular
             purpose; to portion off; as, to set off a portion of
             an estate.
         (b) To adorn; to decorate; to embellish.
  
                   They . . . set off the worst faces with the
                   best airs.                       --Addison.
         (c) To give a flattering description of.
  
     To set off against, to place against as an equivalent; as,
        to set off one man's services against another's.
  
     To set on or upon.
         (a) To incite; to instigate. ``Thou, traitor, hast set on
             thy wife to this.'' --Shak.
         (b) To employ, as in a task. `` Set on thy wife to
             observe.'' --Shak.
         (c) To fix upon; to attach strongly to; as, to set one's
             heart or affections on some object. See definition 2,
             above.
  
     To set one's cap for. See under Cap, n.
  
     To set one's self against, to place one's self in a state
        of enmity or opposition to.
  
     To set one's teeth, to press them together tightly.
  
     To set on foot, to set going; to put in motion; to start.
        
  
     To set out.
         (a) To assign; to allot; to mark off; to limit; as, to
             set out the share of each proprietor or heir of an
             estate; to set out the widow's thirds.
         (b) To publish, as a proclamation. [Obs.]
         (c) To adorn; to embellish.
  
                   An ugly woman, in rich habit set out with
                   jewels, nothing can become.      --Dryden.
         (d) To raise, equip, and send forth; to furnish. [R.]
  
                   The Venetians pretend they could set out, in
                   case of great necessity, thirty men-of-war.
                                                    --Addison.
         (e) To show; to display; to recommend; to set off.
  
                   I could set out that best side of Luther.
                                                    --Atterbury.
         (f) To show; to prove. [R.] ``Those very reasons set out
             how heinous his sin was.'' --Atterbury.
         (g) (Law) To recite; to state at large.