▪ I. † site, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 3–5 sit, 4 site, sijt, syt, siht, 4–6 syte, 5 sitt, syte, cytte.
[a. ON. *s{yacu}t (cf. Norw. syt), variant (properly the original nom. sing.) of s{uacu}t (Norw. sut) sorrow, distress. Cf. site v.1]
1. Care or sorrow; grief, trouble of any kind.
Common in northern ME. poetry during the 14th cent.; in the 16th cent. in Scottish use only.
| c 1200 Ormin 4852 All flæshliȝ care & serrȝhe & sit. Ibid. 7967 Wiþþ serrȝhe & sit, wiþþ bitter wop. a 1300 Cursor M. 1410 Adam..liued..al his liue in site and care. a 1352 Minot Poems (ed. Hall) vii. 65 Inglis men with site þam soght, And hastily quit tham thaire hire. a 1400–50 Alexander 182 Seses, seris, of ȝour syte & soruȝes na mare. c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 1202 He has me sauit fra syte throw his gentrice. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. ii. xviii, Tuiching the proces of my panefull site. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 519 Se ȝe be blyth and glaid, And slaik also of all ȝour syte and sorrow. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. iii. 157 Sa mot hir hart be fillit full of syte. |
b. With a and pl.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 566 He schulde neuer for no syt smyte al at onez. 1357 Lay Folks Catech. 88 The secund dedeli syn is hatten enuy, That is a sorowe and a site of the welefare..of our euen-cristen. c 1400 Anturs of Arth. xvii. (Thornton MS.), Telle me now sothely what may safe thi sytis. c 1475 Henryson Poems (S.T.S.) III. 107 False is this warld,..Besoucht with syn and other sytis mo. |
2. to make site, to lament, mourn. rare.
| 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 5 Sorow & site he made..For his sonne & heyre þat so sone was dede. c 1350 Leg. Rood (1871) 63, I sall mak site and sorows sere. |
▪ II. site, n.2
(saɪt)
Forms: α. 4– site, 6–7 syte; 5 siȝt, 6 sight. β. 6–7 scyte, 6–9 scite (9 cite).
[a. AF. site (1302–3 in Godef.), or ad. L. situs place, position, etc. The mod.F. site (for which Cotgr. has sit) appears to be ad. It. sito).]
† 1. a. The place or position occupied by some specified thing. Freq. implying original or fixed position. Obs. (common in the 17th cent.).
| α c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §17 Fro the Equinoxial may the declinacion..of any body celestial be rikned, after the site north or south. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 3322 Þe clere sterris of Iades so red Whiche han her siȝt in þe Crabbis hed. 1581 G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. (1586) i. 22 b, Mariners..learne to knowe..the syte and place of rockes and shelues. 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 184 The fourth difference [in distillation] is by the site and placing of the vessell. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 273 Of the providence and wisdome of God in the site and motion of the Sun. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1704) 167 The Chamælion imitates the Woodspite..in the site of his Toes. |
| β 1627 Drayton Agincourt, etc. 154 The Rocks Tumbling downe from their scytes. 1675 Alsop Anti-sozzo 353 A Body is..the result of all the Integral parts put together in their due Scite and proper Order. |
† b. With a and pl. A place or position. Obs.
| a 1400 in Halliwell Rara Mathem. (1841) 63 Þan drawe a lyne..in anoþer site, þat es to say, place of þe table. Ibid. 69 Calle G þe mark in þe place of þe seconde site, þat es to say, stondynge. 1596 Lodge Divel Coniured D iij, Peculiar and determinate obseruances, (as certaine houres, a certaine scite of stars). 1662 More Antid. Ath. i. xi. §6 There appearing to us but one Animadversion as but one site of things. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 165 Supposing all things to arise from the different Compositions of Magnitudes, Figures, Sites, and Motions. 1716 Swift Progr. Beauty Wks. 1757 III. ii. 163 Three Colours,..So graceful in their proper Place Remove them to a diff'rent scite, They form a frightful hideous Face. |
† c. Without article or other qualification: Place, position, situation. Obs.
| (a) a 1400–50 Bk. Curtasye 469 in Babees Bk., In syte [text syce] ichon from oþer shalle be Þe lenghthe of oþer, þat men may se. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 874 Contrariwise in the Plaines, iust by in site, they haue their summer from October to Aprill. 1657 J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 199 When words..are in site or placing disjoyned. |
| (b) 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 67 Site, or situation, as it is the passion of a thing placed, belongeth hither. 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. ii. ii. 6 Site doth confine This point; take site away, it's straight a spark divine. 1697 tr. Burgersdicius' Logic i. ix. 29 Site is the order of the parts of the body amongst themselves. |
† d. Attitude, position, or posture (of the body, etc.). Obs.
| 1609 Andrewes Serm. (1841) II. 239 Christ's site, that He stood, when He wished it. 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 148 That uprightness and straitness, which is the most useful site of most plants. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 4 The conveniency of this Site of our Bodies. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 1022 The semblance of a lover, fix'd In melancholy site, with head declin'd. |
2. a. The situation or position of a place, town, building, etc., esp. with reference to the surrounding district or locality. Occas. without article.
| α 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. June 1 Lo Collin, here the place, whose pleasaunt syte From other shades hath weand my wandring mynde. 1600 Holland Livy xxvi. 582 Anniball..rode to the gate Capena, for to view the site of the cittie. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 24 Some force whole Regions, in despight O' Geography, to change their site. 1711 Pope Temple Fame 421 A Structure fair, Its Site uncertain, if in Earth or Air. 1781 J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) I. i. 5 The sublime site of the Castle. 1838 Murray's Hdbk. N. Germ. 286 Its Castle,..imposing from its size, its strength, its site. 1869 Martineau Ess. II. 70 The loss of health caused by the pestilential site of a dwelling. |
| β 1567 Fenton Trag. Disc. i. (1898) I. 18 The magnificall scites and scituations of greate men's houses. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 374 A man (but meanly exercised in their language) may..readily understand the Scite, or soile, of their townes, by the onely sounde of the name. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxx. 236 Both in their pleasant Scites, most happily installd. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Wars 625 His Cannon shot were aimed with that skill from a little rising, whose scite they had tryed, that [etc.]. 1714 Steele's Poet. Misc. 292 A House by Scite and Structure warm. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 281 The castle is an instance of the sublime in scite and architecture. 1807 Cumberland Mem. II. 150 In this valley, on the banks of the fertilizing Douro, would be the proper scite for the capital of Spain. 1809 N. Pinkney Trav. France 255 The town has nothing but its scite to recommend it. |
b. In scientific use, a position or location in or on something, esp. one where some activity happens or is done.
| 1950 Sci. News XV. 70 Even a perfect crystal will contain a certain number of vacant lattice positions. The proportion of such sites depends only on the temperature. 1954 A. White et al. Princ. Biochem. xii. 259 This inhibition may be a result..of combination of the inhibitor with the same site on the enzyme at which the substrate would combine. 1956 M. Demerec in Publ. Carnegie Inst. Washington No. 612. 2 The specific properties of an allele are determined by changes at a specific part of the gene locus. Thus it is now evident that a gene locus is composed of a number of units, separable by crossing over, which we call ‘sites’. 1966 T. S. & C. R. Leeson Histology viii. 140/1 In the fetus..blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages. 1968 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. I. vii. 2/2 The high specificity of most enzymes..suggests that on the surface of the enzyme molecule there is one or perhaps a few sites specifically adapted for binding the correct substrate and bringing about the reaction. 1971 Levitan & Montagu Textbk. Human Genetics xv. 576 On this view the several factors belonging to the same polypeptide..would be determined by different mutable sites on one of the genes. 1982 K. H. Muench in T. M. Devlin Textbk. Biochem. xix. 943 (caption) Human proinsulin. After cleavage at the two sites indicated..the arginine residues..and the lysine residue..are removed to give insulin and C-peptide. |
3. a. The ground or area upon which a building, town, etc., has been built, or which is set apart for some purpose. Also, in mod. use, a plot, or number of plots, of land intended or suitable for building purposes, and, in wider use, a piece of ground or an area which has been appropriated for some purpose; the scene of a specified activity. Freq. in comb. with the first element indicating the (intended) use of the area as building site, caravan site, landing site, launching site, picnic site (etc.) site: see these words.
plane of site in Fortif.: see plane n.3 1 h.
| α 1461 Rolls of Parlt. V. 490/2 Londes..such as been and make the Syte or Sites of any such Abbey, Priory [etc.]. 1547 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. i. 131 The Sightes..wheruppon the same ij churches Are nowe..buyldyd. 1649 Milton Observ. Peace Wks. 1851 IV. 542 The Sites and Precincts hereby intended, are declared to be the Body of the Abby, one Garden and Orchard [etc.]. 1789 G. White Selborne i. 2 The gardens..and small enclosures behind..may perhaps have been the original site of the town. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 228, I have seen only countries frequented by Europeans,..but I shall ever recollect with pleasure two of those sites. 1838 J. L. Stephens Trav. Greece I. 57 Every ruined village on the road stands on the site of an ancient city. 1863 Lyell Antiq. Man 18 In rude and unsettled times, these insular sites afforded safe retreats. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 38 The costly nature of the work in making good the site, when the soil is not naturally suitable. 1888 [see nesting-site s.v. nesting vbl. n. b]. 1930 [see nest-site s.v. nest n. 8]. 1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World xvii. 152 The bird usually developed a clear preference in favour of one of the two nests,..a site-preference. 1963 Camping (‘Know the Game’ Ser.) 43/2 (heading) Choosing a camp site. Ibid. 46/2 Have consideration for other campers. Do not stroll into someone else's site just as they are in the middle of morning ablutions. 1965 A. J. P. Taylor Eng. Hist. 1914–1945 xvi. 578 The use of the pilotless aeroplanes and of the rockets was delayed..by bombing their launching sites in France. 1973 E. F. Schumacher Small is Beautiful ii. iv. 129 There will be a continuous traffic of radioactive substances..from the stations to waste-processing plants; and from there to disposal sites. 1980 J. McNeil Spy Game xix. 189 It was shoe-horned between the radar assembly sheds, a piece of open ground which had miraculously escaped the rash of building covering the rest of the site. |
| β 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 27 Al the scites & circuites of all such religious houses. 1558 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 48 Scyte, precinkte, and Compasse of the late dissolved Hospitall. a 1647 Habington Surv. Worcs. (Worcs. Hist. Surv.) I. iii. 499 Lower Wyke with the scyte of the mannor. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Cornwall (1662) 202 He conferred on him and his heirs the rich demesne and scite of Middleton. 1718 Ozell tr. Tournefort's Voy. I. 167 The Descendants..are still in possession of the Scite of the Castle. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §130 note, Upon this scite the Baths and Long Room have since been erected. 1808 Parsons Trav. Asia iii. 72 A steep road leads to the cite of the celebrated village, formerly called Daphne. 1835 Palgrave Hist. Anglo-Saxons iv. 89 The entrenchments..just enable us to trace the scite of the royal residence. |
b. transf. The seat of (an industry); the scene of (some condition, etc.).
| 1637 G. Daniel Genius of this Isle 572 Looke now vpon my Sister Germanie; The Seat of Warre, the Scite of Miserie. 1809 Bawdwen Domesday Bk. 98 There is the site..of a fishery there. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 151 In the ninth century Lake Mälar was the site of so prosperous a trade. |
c. Archæol. A place containing the remains of former human habitation; an excavation.
| 1911 T. E. Lawrence Let. Apr. (1954) 149 The dig has proved a failure to the present (tho' there is still hope of one part of the site). 1963 E. S. Wood Collins Field Guide Archaeol. ii. ii. 200 Bronze Age sacred sites, such as the circles at Knowlton (Dorset), which has a church inside it,..indicate continuity of sacred sites. 1977 Times 13 Aug. 14/4 More than four fifths of the villa's walls have been destroyed by ploughing and erosion, and Mr Sumpter feels that the site would not have survived another year's ploughing. 1980 Rescue News Dec. 7/5 A cliff site near Northskaill. The site is a great kitchen-midden at least 3·5m thick. |
4. techn. A framework of timber forming the foundation or basis of a piece of scaffolding.
| 1901 Black Scaffolding 27 At a suitable distance from the intended wall a ‘site’ is first planted... This consists of a baulk of squared timbers, frequently about 4 in. square. |
5. U.S. Naut. slang. A job, a situation.
| 1930 Amer. Speech V. 393 Site, a place as fisherman aboard a fishing vessel. 1957 Maine Coast Fisherman July 21/1 Skipper Farrell won't offer a site to a cook who will only cook. 1967 National Fisherman June 19-c/2 Palmer was to have a steady job (‘site’) aboard until he quit or was discharged for cause. 1977 New Yorker 15 Aug. 46/3 Joe, who generally keeps his own counsel, tells me that he is hoping to get a site—a job—on the Sniktaw. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 3) site clerk, site foreman, site manager; site assembly, assembly of building components on the site; site value, the amount for which a site may be sold (see also quot. 1893).
| 1958 Listener 6 Nov. 726/2 The mechanization of building and rapid site-assembly of light-weight factory-produced components is a priority item in the current five-year plan. |
| 1961 Evening Standard 20 July 18/3 (Advt.), Site Clerk required by..contractors. 1969 T. Parker Twisting Lane 57 I'd got a fairly decent job as a site-clerk with a small firm of builders. |
| 1964 K. G. Lockyer Introd. Critical Path Anal. iii. 27 Departmental managers, site foremen. 1981 J. B. Hilton Playground of Death viii. 97 Three site foremen in succession suffered accidents. |
| 1961 Technology May 121/3 There was a need..for a new sort of foreman for the larger projects, a site manager. 1976 R. Lewis Distant Banner iii. 85 The bosses had obviously been on the site manager's back. |
| 1893 Westm. Gaz. 20 Dec. 7/3 Defining the term ‘site value’ as ‘the annual rent which at the time of valuation might reasonably be obtained for the land..as a cleared site, if let for building’. 1904 G. B. Shaw Common Sense of Municipal Trading x. 92 The popular remedy is to tax site values directly. 1941 H. Nicolson Diary 17 Mar. (1967) 152 It gives a magnificent vista of St Paul's... To get that permanently cleared is worth 40 million pounds in site-value. 1973 E. Page Fortnight by Sea vi. 67 Hunston's had been losing trade..had been glad to sell out in the end for the very considerable site value. |
▸ Computing. a. The location of a computer or computer system, esp. one that runs a web server.
| [1969 Request for Comments (Network Working Group) (Electronic text) No. 1. 6 As [read at] some sites a great deal of work has gone into making the computer highly responsive to a sophisticated console.] 1970 Request for Comments (Network Working Group) (Electronic text) No. 61. 8 To receive is added a parameter specifying a site to which the receive is to be sent. 1982 F. J. Galland Dict. Computing 265/2 Site, a term often applied to a place where a particular type of computer is installed. 1989 Datamation (Nexis) 15 Nov. 105 This nonprofit organization runs New York State's section of the Internet network and is currently the largest pilot site for X.500 in the United States. |
b. = web site n.
| 1994 Macworld (Electronic ed.) Sept. 34 Netscape..is once again pushing the boundaries of the World Wide Web, offering site designers new ways to deliver in-line information and new tools with which to format Web pages. 1995 Computer Weekly 5 Oct. 36/3 People who appear to be working at their screens could be..contributing to the Star Trek fan club or visiting Playboy magazine's site. 2000 Computer Weekly 20 Apr. 50/1 The emphasis is on what is called dwell time—how long a visitor can be kept on the site to view those all-important advertisements. |
▪ III. † site, v.1 Obs.—1
[a. ON. s{yacu}ta (Icel. s{yacu}ta, Norw. syta), f. s{uacu}t sorrow: see site n.1]
intr. To grieve.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11675 Bot i site for an oþer thing, þat we o water has nu wanting. |
▪ IV. site, v.2
(saɪt)
[f. site n.2, or back-formation from sited ppl. a.]
1. trans. To locate, to place. See also sited ppl. a., siting vbl. n.
| 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. xii. xii. (1622) 174 For the Greeks sited Byzance in the vtmost part of Europe, in a very narrow streight, which diuideth Europe from Asia. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vii. ii. §3. 197 And Amianus Marcellinus siteth the Sacæ..to inhabit ouer-grown places..at the foote of the mountaines Ascanimia and Comedus. 1920 Discovery Apr. 116/1 It is advisable to avoid siting a wireless station close to higher ground. 1955 Times 29 June 7/1 New proposals for siting Rodin's sculptured group of the Burghers of Calais. |
2. intr. To be situated or placed; to lie.
| 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 460 The lower æthiope, siteth most Southerly of any part of Africke. |
▪ V. site
obs. form of cite v.