beset, v.
(bɪˈsɛt)
Pa. tense and pa. pple. beset. Also 1–6 bi-, by-. For forms see set.
[Com. Teut.: OE. bi-, besęttan = OHG. bisezzan (MHG. and mod.G. besetzen), OS. bisettjan (MDu. besetten, Du. bezetten), Goth. (and OTeut.) bisatjan, f. bi-, be- about + satjan (OE. sęttan) to set, causal of sitjan to sit. Beset is thus the causal to besit.]
I. To set about, surround. All trans.
1. To set (a thing) about with accessories or appendages of any kind; to surround with things set in their places. Now only in pa. pple.
| a 1000 Beowulf 2910 Swa hine fyrn-dagum worhte wæpna smið wundrum téode besette swin-licum. c 1200 Ormin 8169 Itt wass eȝȝwhær bisett Wiþþ deorewurþe staness. 1388 Wyclif Ecclus. xxviii. 28 Bisette thin eeris with thornes. a 1529 Skelton Vox Pop. Wks. 1843 II. 404 His tabell..With platt besett inowe. 1563 Pilkington Serm. Wks. (1842) 657 Many of the university..beset the walls of the Church and Church-porch on both sides with verses. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man iii. (1603) 253, I made orchards and gardens, and beset them with all kinde of trees. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 557 They take a..young man, whom they dress in the apparel of a woman, besetting him with divers odoriferous flowers and spices. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. (1776) 196 The Disk is beset with Points that are sharp and stiff. 1834 De Quincey Cæsars Wks. X. 231 A diadem or tiara beset with pearls. |
† b. more vaguely: To surround, encircle, cover round with. Obs.
| 1580 Lyly Euphues (1636) I ij b, His face did shine as it were beset with the Sun-beames. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. Wks. 1883–4 IV. 207 Euen as Angels are painted..besette with Sunne-beames so beset they theyr fore-heads..with glorious borrowed gleamy bushes. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Distilling, It's necessary you should beset it [a Retort], even to the very End of the Beak, with a Sort of Stuff made of Potters Earth. |
2. To set or station themselves round, to surround with hostile intent. a. To set upon or assail on all sides (a person).
| a 1225 Meid. Maregr. xvii, Ðes houndes habbet me biset. a 1300 Cursor M. 15783 Þei bigon to awake And him faste aboute biset. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 143 Monkynde in þo stat of innocense when he..was not bysett wiþ enmyes. c 1440 York Myst. xliv. 55 Þe Jewes besettis vs in ilke aside. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 19 b, Than he is a strypplynge, all beset aboute with ennemyes. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 88, I..Drew to defend him, when he was beset. 1718 Pope Iliad xvii. 148 The lioness..beset by men and hounds. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets vii. 194 The Erinnyes, whose business it is to beset the house of the evil-doer. |
b. To invest, or surround (a place); to besiege. (Not now said of a regular army besieging a town).
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 300 Þe buruh..þet he heueden biset. 1297 R. Glouc. 387 Þuderward he heyde vaste, And þer castel bysette. a 1300 Cursor M. 7056 In his tyme was troy biset. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3539 For þe Amyral..had be-set þe brigge aboute With strengþe and with gynne. c 1520 Adam Bel 47 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 141 Thys place hath ben besette for you. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. ix. 79 Salvages, well armed, had inuironed the house, and beset the fields. 1740 L. Clarke Hist. Bible vi. 341 They went and beset the town by night. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 107 The partizans of Oswulf beset the house where Copsige was. |
c. To occupy (a road, gate, or passage), esp. so as to prevent any one from passing.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 15012 Wiþ harpe & pipe..þe weye þei him bisette. 1580 Baret Alv. B 559 All the wayes were beset with garrisons of enemies. 1635 N. R. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. 75 Morton in the meane time beset all passages of access. 1753 Life J. Frith (1829) 76 Sir Thomas More..persecuted him both by land and sea, besetting all the ways, havens, and ports. 1852 M{supc}Culloch Taxation Introd. 28 The mob, which beset all the avenues to the House of Commons. |
† d. To circumvent, entrap, catch. Obs.
| 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 37 Hee shall make readie his Nets to catch Birds, and to beset the Hares. |
3. fig. To encompass, surround, assail, possess detrimentally: a. said of temptations, dangers, difficulties, obstacles, evil influences.
| a 1000 Andreas (Gr.) 1257 Þa se halᵹa wæs..earoþancum beseted. c 1200 Ormin 12954 O mannkinn þatt wass all bisett Wiþþ siness þessterrnesse. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 58 Whanne that two vices be sette one euelle delite, gladly they bringe her maister into temptacion. 1611 Bible Heb. xii. 1 Let vs lay aside..the sinne which doth so easily beset vs. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 441 ¶1 [Man] is beset with Dangers on all sides. 1741 Richardson Pamela I. 73 A poor Maiden, that is hard beset. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 240 The difficulties by which the government was beset. 1874 Helps Soc. Press. ii. 18 The hopelessness which gradually besets all people in a great town like London. |
b. of the difficulties, perils, obstacles which beset an action, work, or course.
| 1800 Currie Life Burns (1800) I. Ded. 21 The task was beset with considerable difficulties. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xii. 254 The tale is beset with contradictions. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 138 The difficulties that beset such an explanation. |
c. of actual enemies forming schemes against one's life or property. rare.
| 1682 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 202 Our lives and estates are besett here. |
† d. pass. To be possessed (with devils). Obs.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 176/1 The deuyls that Saynt Germayn had dryuen out of suche bodyes as were biseten. Ibid. 196/3 Men that were wood and byset with deuyls. |
4. gen. To close round; to surround, hem in. (Often with some allusion to senses 2 and 3, as in ‘to be beset by ice.’)
| c 1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 57 The towne..being on all sides beesett with wooddes and fenns. 1642 Rogers Naaman 345 Foggy clouds which doe beset the cleare sky. 1738 Wesley Ps. cxxxix. iv, Within thy circling Arms I lie Beset on every side. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. x. (1856) 73 We are now again fast, completely ‘beset.’ 1870 Hawthorne Eng. Note-Bks. (1879) II. 243 The mountains which beset it round. |
II. To set (in fig. sense), to bestow. All trans.
† 5. To set or place (one's mind, affections, faith, trust, love) on or upon (any one); = set v.1 Obs.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 101 Cristene men ne sculen heore bileafe bisettan on þere weor(l)dliche eahte. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶532 Thay ben accursed..that on such filthe bisetten here bileeve. c 1440 Generydes 5021, I do very right, Though I besette my loue on suche a knyght. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 295 His over great trust which..he bisettid upon hem. 1627 Bp. Hall Metaphr. Ps. iv, Offer the truest sacrifice Of broken hearts, on God besetting Your only trust. |
† 6. To employ, expend, spend (one's words, wit, money, time, pains, study). Obs. Cf. bestow.
| a 1240 Sawles Warde in Lamb. Hom. 249 Warschipe þat best con bisetten hire wordes ant ec hire werkes. a 1300 Dame Siriz 274 Neren never penes beter biset. 1340 Ayenb. 214 Me ssel alneway wel do and wel besette þane time ine guode workes. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 279 This worthi man ful wel his witte bisette. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. ix. 195 Forto bisette so mich labour and coste aboute ymagis. c 1560 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 207 Here ys thy penyworth of ware; Yf thou thynke hyt not wele besett, Gyf hyt another. |
† 7. To bestow, apportion, allot, transfer; spec. to bestow or give in marriage. Obs.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 9 The poure [wummon] þat beoð wacliche iȝeouen and biset uuele. c 1325 Chron. Eng. 492 in Ritson Met. Rom. II. 290 Thilke he delede on threo, Wel he bisette theo. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cxii, Orgarus thought his doughter shold wel be maryed, and wel beset upon hym. 1494 Fabyan i. iv. 11 He beset or apoynted to hym the Countre of Walys. 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. iii. 69 The beare his feirce-nesse to his brood besets. |
† 8. To set in order; arrange; ordain. Obs.
| 1413 E.E. Wills (1882) 19, I, Richard Ȝonge, Brewer of London, be-set my testament in thys maner. 1494 Fabyan vi. clxxx. 178 Than this noble prynce Edward, after thise thinges, be set hym in an ordre. c 1500 Blowbol's Test. in Halliw. Nugæ P. 3 Withoute tarying ye make your Testament, And by good avice alle thing well besett. |
III. To become, suit. Cf. Sc. set, Fr. seoir.
† 9. To become, look well on, befit, set off. Obs.
| 1567 Drant Horace De Arte P. A iiij, Sad wordes beset a sorye face; thretynge, the visage grim. 1598 R. Pollock On 1 Thess. (1616) 258 (Jam.) If thou be the childe of God, doe as besets thy estate—sleep not, but wake. |
† b. intr. To go well or accord with. Obs.
| 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. i. vi. 13 How handsomely besets Dull spondees with the English dactilets. |