Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SET, v.t. [pret. and pp. set. Sax. sætan, setan, settan, to set or place, to seat or fix, to appease, to calm, L. sedo; to compose, as a book, to dispose or put in order, to establish, found, or institute, to possess, to cease; G. setzen, to set, to risk or lay, as a wager, to plant, to appoint, to leap or make an onset; D. zetten; Sw. sätta; Dan. setter; W. sodi, to fix, to constitute; gosodi, to set, to lay, to put, to establish, to ordain; gosod, a setting or placing, a site, a statute, an onset or assault; L. sedo, sedeo, and sido, coinciding with sit, but all of one family. From the Norman orthography of this word, we have assess, assise. See Assess. Heb. and Ch. יסד and שות, to set, to place; Syr. ܣܬܬ sett, to found, to establish. Class Sd, No. 31, 56. The primary sense is to throw, to drive, or intransitively, to rush.]

1. To put or place; fix or cause to rest in a standing position. We set a house on a wall of stone; we set a book on a shelf. In this use, set differs from lay; we set a thing on its end or basis; we lay it on its side.
2. To put or place in its proper or natural posture. We set a chest or trunk on its bottom, not on its end; we set a bedstead or a table on its feet or legs.
3. To put, place, or fix in any situation. God set the sun, moon, and stars in the firmament. I do set my bow in the cloud. Gen. ix.
4. To put into any condition or state. The Lord thy God will set thee on high. Deut. xxviii. I am come to set a man at variance against his father. Matth. x. So we say, to set in order, to set at ease, to set to work, or at work.
5. To put; to fix; to attach to. The Lord set a mark upon Cain. Gen. iv. So we say, to set a label on a vial or a bale.
6. To fix; to render motionless; as, the eyes are set; the jaws are set.
7. To put or fix, as a price. We set a price on a house, farm, or horse.
8. To fix; to state by some rule. The gentleman spoke with a set gesture and countenance. Carew. The town of Berne has handsome fountains planted at set distances from one end of the street to the other. – Addison.
9. To regulate or adjust; as, to set a time-piece by the sun. He sets his judgment by his passion. – Prior.
10. To fit to music; to adapt with notes; as, to set the words of a psalm to music. Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute. – Dryden.
11. To pitch; to begin to sing in public. He set the hundredth psalm. – Spectator.
12. To plant, as a shrub, tree, or vegetable. Prior.
13. To variegate, intersperse, or adorn with something fixed; to stud; as, to set any thing with diamonds or pearls. High on their heads, with jewels richly set, / Each lady wore a radiant coronet. – Dryden.
14. To return to its proper place or state; to replace; to reduce from a dislocated or fractured state; as, to set a bone or a leg.
15. To fix; to place; as, the heart or affections. Set your affections on things above. – Col. iii. Minds altogether set on trade and profit. – Addison.
16. To fix firmly; to predetermine. The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. – Eccles. viii. Hence we say, a thing is done of set purpose; a man is set, that is, firm or obstinate in his opinion or way.
17. To fix by appointment; to appoint; to assign; as, to set a time for meeting; to set an hour or a day. – Bacon. South.
18. To place or station; to appoint to a particular duty. Am I a sea or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? – Job vii.
19. To stake at play. [Little used.] – Prior.
20. To offer a wager at dice to another. [Little used.] – Shak.
21. To fix in metal. And him too rich a jewel to be set / In vulgar metal for a vulgar use. – Dryden.
22. To fix; to cause to stop; to obstruct; as, to set a coach in the mire. The wagon or the team was set at the hill, In some of the states, stall is used in a like sense.
23. To embarrass; to perplex. They are hard set to represent the bill as a grievance. – Addison.
24. To put in good order; to fix for use; to bring to a fine edge; as, to set a razor.
25. To loose and extend; to spread; as, to set the sails of a ship.
26. To point out without noise or disturbance; as, a dog sets birds. – Johnson.
27. To oppose. Will you set your wit to a fool's? – Shak.
28. To prepare with runnet for cheese; as, to set milk.
29. To dim; to darken or extinguish. Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. – 1 Kings xiv. To set by the compass, among seamen, to observe the bearing or situation of a distant object by the compass. To set about, to begin, as an action or enterprise to apply to. He has planned his enterprise, and will soon set about it. To set one's self against, to place in a state of enmity or opposition. The king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem the same day. – Ezek. xxiv. To set against, to oppose; to set in comparison, or to oppose as an equivalent in exchange; as, to set one thing against another; or to set off one thing against another. To set apart, to separate to a particular use; to separate from the rest. #2. To neglect for a time. [Not in use.] – Knolles. To set aside, to omit for the present; to lay out of the question. Setting aside other considerations, I will endeavor to know the truth and yield to that. – Tillotson. #2. To reject. I embrace that of the deluge, and set aside all the rest. – Woodward. #3. To annul; to vacate. The court set aside the verdict, or the judgment. To set abroach, to spread. – Shak. To set a-going, to cause to begin to move. To set by, to set apart or on one side; to reject. – Bacon. [In this sense, by is emphatical.] #2. To esteem; to regard; to value. [In this sense, set is pronounced with more emphasis than by.] To set down, to place upon the ground or floor. #2. To enter in writing; to register. Some rules were to be set down for the government of the army. – Clarendon. #3. To explain or relate in writing. #4. To fit on a resolve. [Little used.] – Knolles. #5. To fix; to establish; to ordain. This law we may name eternal, being that order which God hath set down with himself, for himself to do all things by. – Hooker. To set forth, to manifest; to offer or present to view Rom. iii. #2. To publish; to promulgate; to make appear. – Waller. #3. To send out; to prepare and send. The Venetian admiral had a fleet of sixty galleys, set forth by the Venetians. [Obs.] – Knolles. #4. To display; to exhibit; to present to view; to show. – Dryden. Milton. To set forward, to advance; to move on; also, to promote. – Hooker. To set in, to put in the way to begin. If you please to assist and set me in, I will recollect myself. – Collier. To set off, to adorn; to decorate; to embellish. They set off the worst faces with the best airs. – Addison. #2. To give a pompous or flattering description of; to eulogize; to recommend; as, to set off a character. #3. To place against as an equivalent; as, to set off one man's services against another's. #4. To separate or assign for a particular purpose; as, to set off a portion of an estate. To set on or upon, to incite; to instigate; to animate to action. Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this. – Shak. #2. To assault or attack; seldom used transitively, but the passive form often used. Alphonsus … was set upon by a Turkish pirate and taken. – Knolles. #3. To employ, as in a task. Set on thy wife to observe. – Shak. #4. To fix the attention; to determine to any thing with settled purpose. It becomes a true lover to have your heart more set upon her good than your own. – Sidney. To set out, to assign; to allot; as, to set out the share of each proprietor or heir of an estate; to set out the widow's thirds. #2. To publish. [Not elegant nor common.] – Swift. #3. To mark by boundaries or distinctions of space. Determinate portions of those infinite abysses of space and duration, set out, or supposed to be distinguished from all the rest by known boundaries. Locke. #4. To adorn; to embellish. An ugly woman in a rich habit, set out with jewels, nothing can become. Dryden. #5. To raise, equip and send forth; to furnish. The Venetians pretend they could set out, in case of great necessity, thirty men of war. Addison. [Not elegant and little used.] #6. To show; to display; to recommend; to set off. I could set out that best side of Luther. Atterbury. #7. To show; to prove. Those very reasons set out how heinous his sin was. [Little used and not elegant.] – Atterbury. #8. In law, to recite; to state at large. – Judge Sedgwick. To set up, to erect; as, to set up a building; to set up a post a wall, a pillar. #2. To begin a new institution; to institute; to establish; to found; as, to set up a manufactory; to set up a school. #3. To enable to commence a new business; as, to set up a son in trade. #4. To raise; to exalt; to put in power; as, to set up the throne of David over Israel. – 2 Sam. iii. #5. To place in view; as, to set up a mark. #6. To raise; to utter loudly; as, to set up the voice. I'll set up such a note as she shall hear. – Dryden. #7. To advance; to propose as truth or for reception; to set up a new opinion or doctrine. – Burnet. #8. To raise from depression or to a sufficient fortune. This good fortune quite set him up. #9. In seamen's language, to extend, as the shrouds, stays, &c. To set at naught, to undervalue; to contemn; to despise. Ye have set at naught all my counsel. – Prov. i. 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. To set eyes on, to see; to behold; or to fix the eyes in looking on; to fasten the eyes on. To set the teeth on edge, to affect the teeth with a painful sensation. To set over, to appoint or constitute as supervisor, inspector, ruler or commander. #2. To assign; to transfer; to convey. To set right, to correct; to put in order. To set at ease, to quiet; to tranquilize; as, to set the heart at ease. To set free, to release from confinement, imprisonment or bondage; to liberate; to emancipate. To set at work, to cause to enter on work or action; or to direct how to enter on work. Locke. To set on fire, to communicate fire to; to inflame; and figuratively, to enkindle the passions; to make to rage; to irritate; to fill with disorder. – James iii To set before, to offer; to propose; to present to view. – Deut. xi, xxx. To set a trap, snare or gin, to place in a situation to catch prey; to spread; figuratively, to lay a plan to deceive and draw into the power of another.