Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SET, v.i.

1. To decline; to go down; to pass below the horizon; as, the sun sets; the stars set.
2. To be fixed hard; to be close or firm. – Bacon.
3. To fit music to words. – Shak.
4. To congeal or concrete. That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set. – Boyle.
5. To begin a journey. The king is set from London. [This is obsolete. We now say, to set out.]
6. To plant; as, “to sow dry, and to set wet.” – Old Proverb.
7. To flow; to have a certain direction in motion; as, the tide sets to the east or north; the current sets westward.
8. To catch birds with a dog that sets them, that is, one that lies down and points them out, and with a large net. – Boyle. To set one's self about, to begin; to enter upon; to take the first steps. To set one's self, to apply one's self. To set about, to fall on; to begin; to take the first steps in a business or enterprise. – Atterbury. To set in, to begin. Winter in New England, usually sets in in December. #2. To become settled in a particular state. When the weather was set in to be very bad. – Addison. To set forward, to move or march; to begin to march; to advance. The sons of Aaron and the sons of Merari set forward. – Num. x. To set on, or upon, to begin a journey or an enterprise. He that would seriously set upon the search of truth – Locke. #2. To assault; to make an attack. – Shak. To set out, to begin a journey or course; as, to set out for London or from London; to set out in business; to set out in life or the world. #2. To have a beginning. – Brown. To set to, to apply one's self to. – Gov. of the Tongue. To set up, to begin business or a scheme of life; as, to set up in trade; to set up for one's self. #2. To profess openly; to make pretensions. He sets up for a man of wit; he sets up to teach morality. – Dryden.