Set \Set\ (s[e^]t), v. i.
1. To pass below the horizon; to go down; to decline; to sink
out of sight; to come to an end.
Ere the weary sun set in the west. --Shak.
Thus this century sets with little mirth, and the
next is likely to arise with more mourning.
--Fuller.
2. To fit music to words. [Obs.]
--Shak.
3. To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant. ``To
sow dry, and set wet.'' --Old Proverb.
4. To be fixed for growth; to strike root; to begin to
germinate or form; as, cuttings set well; the fruit has
set well (i. e., not blasted in the blossom).
5. To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened.
A gathering and serring of the spirits together to
resist, maketh the teeth to set hard one against
another. --Bacon.
6. To congeal; to concrete; to solidify.
That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set.
--Boyle.
7. To have a certain direction in motion; to flow; to move
on; to tend; as, the current sets to the north; the tide
sets to the windward.
8. To begin to move; to go out or forth; to start; -- now
followed by out.
The king is set from London. --Shak.
9. To indicate the position of game; -- said of a dog; as,
the dog sets well; also, to hunt game by the aid of a
setter.
10. To apply one's self; to undertake earnestly; -- now
followed by out.
If he sets industriously and sincerely to perform
the commands of Christ, he can have no ground of
doubting but it shall prove successful to him.
--Hammond.
1. To fit or suit one; to sit; as, the coat sets well.
Note: [Colloquially used, but improperly, for sit.]
Note: The use of the verb set for sit in such expressions as,
the hen is setting on thirteen eggs; a setting hen,
etc., although colloquially common, and sometimes
tolerated in serious writing, is not to be approved.
To set about, to commence; to begin.
To set forward, to move or march; to begin to march; to
advance.
To set forth, to begin a journey.
To set in.
(a) To begin; to enter upon a particular state; as,
winter set in early.
(b) To settle one's self; to become established. ``When
the weather was set in to be very bad.'' --Addison.
(c) To flow toward the shore; -- said of the tide.
To set off.
(a) To enter upon a journey; to start.
(b) (Typog.) To deface or soil the next sheet; -- said of
the ink on a freshly printed sheet, when another
sheet comes in contact with it before it has had time
to dry.
To set on or upon.
(a) To begin, as a journey or enterprise; to set about.
He that would seriously set upon the search of
truth. --Locke.
(b) To assault; to make an attack. --Bacon.
Cassio hath here been set on in the dark.
--Shak.
To set out, to begin a journey or course; as, to set out
for London, or from London; to set out in business;to set
out in life or the world.
To set to, to apply one's self to.
To set up.
(a) To begin business or a scheme of life; as, to set up
in trade; to set up for one's self.
(b) To profess openly; to make pretensions.
Those men who set up for mortality without
regard to religion, are generally but virtuous
in part. --Swift.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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