'To set about' definitions:

Definition of 'To set about'

From: GCIDE
  • Set \Set\ (s[e^]t), v. i.
  • 1. To pass below the horizon; to go down; to decline; to sink out of sight; to come to an end. [1913 Webster]
  • Ere the weary sun set in the west. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • Thus this century sets with little mirth, and the next is likely to arise with more mourning. --Fuller. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To fit music to words. [Obs.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant. "To sow dry, and set wet." --Old Proverb. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To be fixed for growth; to strike root; to begin to germinate or form; as, cuttings set well; the fruit has set well (i. e., not blasted in the blossom). [1913 Webster]
  • 5. To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened. [1913 Webster]
  • A gathering and serring of the spirits together to resist, maketh the teeth to set hard one against another. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. To congeal; to concrete; to solidify; -- of cements, glues, gels, concrete, substances polymerizing into plastics, etc. [1913 Webster +PJC]
  • That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set. --Boyle. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. To have a certain direction in motion; to flow; to move on; to tend; as, the current sets to the north; the tide sets to the windward. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. To begin to move; to go out or forth; to start; -- now followed by out. [1913 Webster]
  • The king is set from London. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. To indicate the position of game; -- said of a dog; as, the dog sets well; also, to hunt game by the aid of a setter. [1913 Webster]
  • 10. To apply one's self; to undertake earnestly; -- now followed by out. [1913 Webster]
  • If he sets industriously and sincerely to perform the commands of Christ, he can have no ground of doubting but it shall prove successful to him. --Hammond. [1913 Webster]
  • 11. To fit or suit one; to sit; as, the coat sets well.
  • Note: [Colloquially used, but improperly, for sit.] [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The use of the verb set for sit in such expressions as, the hen is setting on thirteen eggs; a setting hen, etc., although colloquially common, and sometimes tolerated in serious writing, is not to be approved. [1913 Webster]
  • To set about, to commence; to begin.
  • To set forward, to move or march; to begin to march; to advance.
  • To set forth, to begin a journey.
  • To set in. (a) To begin; to enter upon a particular state; as, winter set in early. (b) To settle one's self; to become established. "When the weather was set in to be very bad." --Addison. (c) To flow toward the shore; -- said of the tide.
  • To set off. (a) To enter upon a journey; to start. (b) (Typog.) To deface or soil the next sheet; -- said of the ink on a freshly printed sheet, when another sheet comes in contact with it before it has had time to dry.
  • To set on or To set upon. (a) To begin, as a journey or enterprise; to set about. [1913 Webster]
  • He that would seriously set upon the search of truth. --Locke. [1913 Webster] (b) To assault; to make an attack. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
  • Cassio hath here been set on in the dark. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 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.
  • To set to, to apply one's self to.
  • To set up. (a) To begin business or a scheme of life; as, to set up in trade; to set up for one's self. (b) To profess openly; to make pretensions. [1913 Webster]
  • Those men who set up for mortality without regard to religion, are generally but virtuous in part. --Swift. [1913 Webster]

Words containing 'To set about'