I do set my bow in the cloud. --Gen. ix. 13.
2. Hence, to attach or affix (something) to something else,
or in or upon a certain place.
Set your affection on things above. --Col. iii. 2.
The Lord set a mark upon Cain. --Gen. iv. 15.
3. To make to assume specified place, condition, or
occupation; to put in a certain condition or state
(described by the accompanying words); to cause to be.
The Lord thy God will set thee on high. --Deut.
xxviii. 1.
I am come to set a man at variance against his
father, and the daughter against her mother. --Matt.
x. 35.
Every incident sets him thinking. --Coleridge.
4. To fix firmly; to make fast, permanent, or stable; to
render motionless; to give an unchanging place, form, or
condition to. Specifically:
(a) To cause to stop or stick; to obstruct; to fasten to a
spot; hence, to occasion difficulty to; to embarrass;
as, to set a coach in the mud.
They show how hard they are set in this
particular. --Addison.
(b) To fix beforehand; to determine; hence, to make
unyielding or obstinate; to render stiff, unpliant, or
rigid; as, to set one's countenance.
His eyes were set by reason of his age. --1
Kings xiv. 4.
On these three objects his heart was set.
--Macaulay.
Make my heart as a millstone, set my face as a
flint. --Tennyson.
(c) To fix in the ground, as a post or a tree; to plant;
as, to set pear trees in an orchard.
(d) To fix, as a precious stone, in a border of metal; to
place in a setting; hence, to place in or amid
something which serves as a setting; as, to set glass
in a sash.
And him too rich a jewel to be set In vulgar
metal for a vulgar use. --Dryden.
(e) To render stiff or solid; especially, to convert into
curd; to curdle; as, to set milk for cheese.
5. To put into a desired position or condition; to adjust; to
regulate; to adapt. Specifically:
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.
11. 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.
2. Firm; unchanging; obstinate; as, set opinions or
prejudices.
3. Regular; uniform; formal; as, a set discourse; a set
battle. ``The set phrase of peace.'' --Shak.
4. Established; prescribed; as, set forms of prayer.
5. Adjusted; arranged; formed; adapted.
{Set hammer}.
(a) A hammer the head of which is not tightly fastened
upon the handle, but may be reversed. --Knight.
(b) A hammer with a concave face which forms a die for
shaping anything, as the end of a bolt, rivet, etc.
{Set line}, a line to which a number of baited hooks are
attached, and which, supported by floats and properly
secured, may be left unguarded during the absence of the
fisherman.
{Set nut}, a jam nut or lock nut. See under {Nut}.
{Set screw} (Mach.), a screw, sometimes cupped or printed at
one end, and screwed through one part, as of a machine,
tightly upon another part, to prevent the one from
slipping upon the other.
{Set speech}, a speech carefully prepared before it is
delivered in public; a formal or methodical speech.
The weary sun hath made a golden set. --Shak.
2. That which is set, placed, or fixed. Specifically:
(a) A young plant for growth; as, a set of white thorn.
(b) That which is staked; a wager; a venture; a stake;
hence, a game at venture. [Obs. or R.]
We will in France, by God's grace, play a set
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.
--Shak.
That was but civil war, an equal set. --Dryden.
(c) (Mech.) Permanent change of figure in consequence of
excessive strain, as from compression, tension,
bending, twisting, etc.; as, the set of a spring.
(d) A kind of punch used for bending, indenting, or giving
shape to, metal; as, a saw set.
(e) (Pile Driving) A piece placed temporarily upon the
head of a pile when the latter cannot be reached by
the weight, or hammer, except by means of such an
intervening piece. [Often incorrectly written {sett}.]
(f) (Carp.) A short steel spike used for driving the head
of a nail below the surface.
3. [Perhaps due to confusion with sect, sept.] A number of
things of the same kind, ordinarily used or classed
together; a collection of articles which naturally
complement each other, and usually go together; an
assortment; a suit; as, a set of chairs, of china, of
surgical or mathematical instruments, of books, etc. [In
this sense, sometimes incorrectly written {sett}.]
4. A number of persons associated by custom, office, common
opinion, quality, or the like; a division; a group; a
clique. ``Others of our set.'' --Tennyson.
This falls into different divisions, or sets, of
nations connected under particular religions. --R.
P. Ward.
5. Direction or course; as, the set of the wind, or of a
current.
6. In dancing, the number of persons necessary to execute a
quadrille; also, the series of figures or movements
executed.
7. The deflection of a tooth, or of the teeth, of a saw,
which causes the the saw to cut a kerf, or make an
opening, wider than the blade.
8.
(a) A young oyster when first attached.
(b) Collectively, the crop of young oysters in any
locality.
9. (Tennis) A series of as many games as may be necessary to
enable one side to win six. If at the end of the tenth
game the score is a tie, the set is usually called a deuce
set, and decided by an application of the rules for
playing off deuce in a game. See {Deuce}.
10. (Type Founding) That dimension of the body of a type
called by printers the width.
{Dead set}.
(a) The act of a setter dog when it discovers the game,
and remains intently fixed in pointing it out.
(b) A fixed or stationary condition arising from obstacle
or hindrance; a deadlock; as, to be at a dead set.
(c) A concerted scheme to defraud by gaming; a determined
onset.
{To make a dead set}, to make a determined onset, literally
or figuratively.
Syn: Collection; series; group. See {Pair}.
2. A stone, commonly of granite, shaped like a short brick
and usually somewhat larger than one, used for street
paving. Commonly written {sett}.
3. Camber of a curved roofing tile.
4. The manner, state, or quality of setting or fitting; fit;
as, the set of a coat. [Colloq.]