To set to work

Set Set (s[e^]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Set}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Setting}.] [OE. setten, AS. setton; akin to OS. settian, OFries. setta, D. zetten, OHG. sezzen, G. setzen, Icel. setja, Sw. s["a]tta, Dan. s?tte, Goth. satjan; causative from the root of E. sit. [root]154. See {Sit}, and cf. {Seize}.] 1. To cause to sit; to make to assume a specified position or attitude; to give site or place to; to place; to put; to fix; as, to set a house on a stone foundation; to set a book on a shelf; to set a dish on a table; to set a chest or trunk on its bottom or on end. [1913 Webster]

I do set my bow in the cloud. --Gen. ix. 13. [1913 Webster]

2. Hence, to attach or affix (something) to something else, or in or upon a certain place. [1913 Webster]

Set your affection on things above. --Col. iii. 2. [1913 Webster]

The Lord set a mark upon Cain. --Gen. iv. 15. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

The Lord thy God will set thee on high. --Deut. xxviii. 1. [1913 Webster]

I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother. --Matt. x. 35. [1913 Webster]

Every incident sets him thinking. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]

4. To fix firmly; to make fast, permanent, or stable; to render motionless; to give an unchanging place, form, or condition to. Specifically: [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster]

They show how hard they are set in this particular. --Addison. [1913 Webster] (b) To fix beforehand; to determine; hence, to make unyielding or obstinate; to render stiff, unpliant, or rigid; as, to set one's countenance. [1913 Webster]

His eyes were set by reason of his age. --1 Kings xiv. 4. [1913 Webster]

On these three objects his heart was set. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]

Make my heart as a millstone, set my face as a flint. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] (c) To fix in the ground, as a post or a tree; to plant; as, to set pear trees in an orchard. [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster]

And him too rich a jewel to be set In vulgar metal for a vulgar use. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] (e) To render stiff or solid; especially, to convert into curd; to curdle; as, to set milk for cheese. [1913 Webster]

5. To put into a desired position or condition; to adjust; to regulate; to adapt. Specifically: [1913 Webster] (a) To put in order in a particular manner; to prepare; as, to set (that is, to hone) a razor; to set a saw. [1913 Webster]

Tables for to sette, and beddes make. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] (b) To extend and bring into position; to spread; as, to set the sails of a ship. [1913 Webster] (c) To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the keynote; as, to set a psalm. --Fielding. [1913 Webster] (d) To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state; to replace; as, to set a broken bone. [1913 Webster] (e) To make to agree with some standard; as, to set a watch or a clock. [1913 Webster] (f) (Masonry) To lower into place and fix solidly, as the blocks of cut stone in a structure. [1913 Webster]

6. To stake at play; to wager; to risk. [1913 Webster]

I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

7. To fit with music; to adapt, as words to notes; to prepare for singing. [1913 Webster]

Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

8. To determine; to appoint; to assign; to fix; as, to set a time for a meeting; to set a price on a horse. [1913 Webster]

9. To adorn with something infixed or affixed; to stud; to variegate with objects placed here and there. [1913 Webster]

High on their heads, with jewels richly set, Each lady wore a radiant coronet. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

Pastoral dales thin set with modern farms. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster]

10. To value; to rate; -- with at. [1913 Webster]

Be you contented, wearing now the garland, To have a son set your decrees at naught. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

I do not set my life at a pin's fee. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

11. To point out the seat or position of, as birds, or other game; -- said of hunting dogs. [1913 Webster]

12. To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to assign; as, to set an example; to set lessons to be learned. [1913 Webster]

13. To suit; to become; as, it sets him ill. [Scot.] [1913 Webster]

14. (Print.) To compose; to arrange in words, lines, etc.; as, to set type; to set a page. [1913 Webster]

{To set abroach}. See {Abroach}. [Obs.] --Shak.

{To set against}, to oppose; to set in comparison with, or to oppose to, as an equivalent in exchange; as, to set one thing against another.

{To set agoing}, to cause to move.

{To set apart}, to separate to a particular use; to separate from the rest; to reserve.

{To set a saw}, to bend each tooth a little, every alternate one being bent to one side, and the intermediate ones to the other side, so that the opening made by the saw may be a little wider than the thickness of the back, to prevent the saw from sticking.

{To set aside}. (a) To leave out of account; to pass by; to omit; to neglect; to reject; to annul. [1913 Webster]

Setting aside all other considerations, I will endeavor to know the truth, and yield to that. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster] (b) To set apart; to reserve; as, to set aside part of one's income. (c) (Law) See under {Aside}.

{To set at defiance}, to defy.

{To set at ease}, to quiet; to tranquilize; as, to set the heart at ease.

{To set at naught}, to undervalue; to contemn; to despise. ``Ye have set at naught all my counsel.'' --Prov. i. 25.

{To set a trap} {To set a snare}, or {To set a gin}, to put it in a proper condition or position to catch prey; hence, to lay a plan to deceive and draw another into one's power.

{To set at work}, or {To set to work}. (a) To cause to enter on work or action, or to direct how tu enter on work. (b) To apply one's self; -- used reflexively.

{To set before}. (a) To bring out to view before; to exhibit. (b) To propose for choice to; to offer to.

{To set by}. (a) To set apart or on one side; to reject. (b) To attach the value of (anything) to. ``I set not a straw by thy dreamings.'' --Chaucer.

{To set by the compass}, to observe and note the bearing or situation of by the compass.

{To set case}, to suppose; to assume. Cf. {Put case}, under {Put}, v. t. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

{To set down}. (a) To enter in writing; to register. [1913 Webster]

Some rules were to be set down for the government of the army. --Clarendon. [1913 Webster] (b) To fix; to establish; to ordain. [1913 Webster]

This law we may name eternal, being that order which God . . . hath set down with himself, for himself to do all things by. --Hooker. [1913 Webster] (c) To humiliate.

{To set eyes on}, to see; to behold; to fasten the eyes on.

{To set fire to}, or {To set on fire}, to communicate fire to; fig., to inflame; to enkindle the passions of; to irritate.

{To set flying} (Naut.), to hook to halyards, sheets, etc., instead of extending with rings or the like on a stay; -- said of a sail.

{To set forth}. (a) To manifest; to offer or present to view; to exhibt; to display. (b) To publish; to promulgate; to make appear. --Waller. (c) To send out; to prepare and send. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

The Venetian admiral had a fleet of sixty galleys, set forth by the Venetians. --Knolles. [1913 Webster]

{To set forward}. (a) To cause to advance. (b) To promote.

{To set free}, to release from confinement, imprisonment, or bondage; to liberate; to emancipate.

{To set in}, to put in the way; to begin; to give a start to. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

If you please to assist and set me in, I will recollect myself. --Collier. [1913 Webster]

{To set in order}, to adjust or arrange; to reduce to method. ``The rest will I set in order when I come.'' --1 Cor. xi. 34.

{To set milk}. (a) To expose it in open dishes in order that the cream may rise to the surface. (b) To cause it to become curdled as by the action of rennet. See 4 (e) .

{To set much by} or {To set little by}, to care much, or little, for.

{To set of}, to value; to set by. [Obs.] ``I set not an haw of his proverbs.'' --Chaucer.

{To set off}. (a) To separate from a whole; to assign to a particular purpose; to portion off; as, to set off a portion of an estate. (b) To adorn; to decorate; to embellish. [1913 Webster]

They . . . set off the worst faces with the best airs. --Addison. [1913 Webster] (c) To give a flattering description of.

{To set off against}, to place against as an equivalent; as, to set off one man's services against another's.

{To set on} or {To set upon}. (a) To incite; to instigate. ``Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this.'' --Shak. (b) To employ, as in a task. `` Set on thy wife to observe.'' --Shak. (c) To fix upon; to attach strongly to; as, to set one's heart or affections on some object. See definition 2, above.

{To set one's cap for}. See under {Cap}, n.

{To set one's self against}, to place one's self in a state of enmity or opposition to.

{To set one's teeth}, to press them together tightly.

{To set on foot}, to set going; to put in motion; to start.

{To set out}. (a) To assign; to allot; to mark off; to limit; as, to set out the share of each proprietor or heir of an estate; to set out the widow's thirds. (b) To publish, as a proclamation. [Obs.] (c) To adorn; to embellish. [1913 Webster]

An ugly woman, in rich habit set out with jewels, nothing can become. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] (d) To raise, equip, and send forth; to furnish. [R.] [1913 Webster]

The Venetians pretend they could set out, in case of great necessity, thirty men-of-war. --Addison. [1913 Webster] (e) To show; to display; to recommend; to set off. [1913 Webster]

I could set out that best side of Luther. --Atterbury. [1913 Webster] (f) To show; to prove. [R.] ``Those very reasons set out how heinous his sin was.'' --Atterbury. (g) (Law) To recite; to state at large.

{To set over}. (a) To appoint or constitute as supervisor, inspector, ruler, or commander. (b) To assign; to transfer; to convey.

{To set right}, to correct; to put in order.

{To set sail}. (Naut.) See under {Sail}, n.

{To set store by}, to consider valuable.

{To set the fashion}, to determine what shall be the fashion; to establish the mode.

{To set the teeth on edge}, to affect the teeth with a disagreeable sensation, as when acids are brought in contact with them.

{To set the watch} (Naut.), to place the starboard or port watch on duty.

{To set to}, to attach to; to affix to. ``He . . . hath set to his seal that God is true.'' --John iii. 33.

{To set up}. (a) To erect; to raise; to elevate; as, to set up a building, or a machine; to set up a post, a wall, a pillar. (b) Hence, to exalt; to put in power. ``I will . . . set up the throne of David over Israel.'' --2 Sam. iii. 10. (c) To begin, as a new institution; to institute; to establish; to found; as, to set up a manufactory; to set up a school. (d) To enable to commence a new business; as, to set up a son in trade. (e) To place in view; as, to set up a mark. (f) To raise; to utter loudly; as, to set up the voice. [1913 Webster]

I'll set up such a note as she shall hear. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] (g) To advance; to propose as truth or for reception; as, to set up a new opinion or doctrine. --T. Burnet. (h) To raise from depression, or to a sufficient fortune; as, this good fortune quite set him up. (i) To intoxicate. [Slang] (j) (Print.) To put in type; as, to set up copy; to arrange in words, lines, etc., ready for printing; as, to set up type.

{To set up the rigging} (Naut.), to make it taut by means of tackles. --R. H. Dana, Jr. [1913 Webster]

Syn: See {Put}. [1913 Webster]