▪ I. forset, v. Now dial.
(fəˈsɛt)
Also 6, 9 fore-.
[OE. forsęttan, f. for- prefix1 + sęttan to set; = MHG. versetzen. OE. had forsittan in same sense.]
1. trans. To beset (lit. and fig.); to bar (a way; with dat. of person); to surround, invest (a city, etc.); to waylay, entrap (a person or animal).
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xiv. [xix.] (1891) 212 Þæt heo him þone heofonlican weᵹ forsette & fortynde. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 78 My gomez..for-settez on vche a syde þe cete aboute. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1815 For-setten byfore, & eke byhynde Wyþ crokes ilkon oþer gan bynde. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1896 Thay hade at ȝone foreste forsette vs the wayes. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 251 Thow haste forsette þe ȝonge qwene. c 1470 Harding Chron. clxxi. iv, Knightes, A litell fro Duresme their waye forsett. 1577 Holinshed Chron. I. Scotl. 437/1 The Earle of Angus caused the Castell to be forsette. 1598 J. Manwood Lawes Forest xx. §4 (1615) 171/1 They might hunt and chase the wild beasts..towards the forest, so that they do not forestal nor foreset them in their return. 1872 Daily News 13 Aug., The watcher and policeman then ‘foreset’ the defendants, whom they captured. 1882 Lanc. Gloss., For-set (Furness), to waylay. |
2. Sc. To overburden or overpower with work.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxii. 11 Forsett is ay the falconis kynd, Bot euir the mittane is hard in mynd. |
Hence † ˈforset n. Obs. ? A stratagem.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 2912 Ne schal nought Brenne bede me trypet Þat y ne schal turne hym wiþ a forset. |
▪ II. forset
obs. form of faucet.