Found 1 items, similar to to set on fire.
English → English (gcide) Definition: To set on fire 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] Fire \Fire\ (f[imac]r), n. [OE. fir, fyr, fur AS. f[=y]r; akin to D. vuur, OS. & OHG. fiur, G. feuer, Icel. f[=y]ri, f[=u]rr, Gr. py^r, and perh. to L. purus pure, E. pure Cf. Empyrean, Pyre.] 1. The evolution of light and heat in the combustion of bodies; combustion; state of ignition. [1913 Webster] Note: The form of fire exhibited in the combustion of gases in an ascending stream or current is called flame. Anciently, fire, air, earth, and water were regarded as the four elements of which all things are composed. [1913 Webster] 2. Fuel in a state of combustion, as on a hearth, or in a stove or a furnace. [1913 Webster] 3. The burning of a house or town; a conflagration. [1913 Webster] 4. Anything which destroys or affects like fire. [1913 Webster] 5. Ardor of passion, whether love or hate; excessive warmth; consuming violence of temper. [1913 Webster] he had fire in his temper. --Atterbury. [1913 Webster] 6. Liveliness of imagination or fancy; intellectual and moral enthusiasm; capacity for ardor and zeal. [1913 Webster] And bless their critic with a poet's fire. --Pope. [1913 Webster] 7. Splendor; brilliancy; luster; hence, a star. [1913 Webster] Stars, hide your fires. --Shak. [1913 Webster] As in a zodiac representing the heavenly fires. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 8. Torture by burning; severe trial or affliction. [1913 Webster] 9. The discharge of firearms; firing; as, the troops were exposed to a heavy fire. [1913 Webster] Blue fire, Red fire, Green fire (Pyrotech.), compositions of various combustible substances, as sulphur, niter, lampblack, etc., the flames of which are colored by various metallic salts, as those of antimony, strontium, barium, etc. Fire alarm (a) A signal given on the breaking out of a fire. (b) An apparatus for giving such an alarm. Fire annihilator, a machine, device, or preparation to be kept at hand for extinguishing fire by smothering it with some incombustible vapor or gas, as carbonic acid. Fire balloon. (a) A balloon raised in the air by the buoyancy of air heated by a fire placed in the lower part. (b) A balloon sent up at night with fireworks which ignite at a regulated height. --Simmonds. Fire bar, a grate bar. Fire basket, a portable grate; a cresset. --Knight. Fire beetle. (Zo["o]l.) See in the Vocabulary. Fire blast, a disease of plants which causes them to appear as if burnt by fire. Fire box, the chamber of a furnace, steam boiler, etc., for the fire. Fire brick, a refractory brick, capable of sustaining intense heat without fusion, usually made of fire clay or of siliceous material, with some cementing substance, and used for lining fire boxes, etc. Fire brigade, an organized body of men for extinguished fires. Fire bucket. See under Bucket. Fire bug, an incendiary; one who, from malice or through mania, persistently sets fire to property; a pyromaniac. [U.S.] Fire clay. See under Clay. Fire company, a company of men managing an engine in extinguishing fires. Fire cross. See Fiery cross. [Obs.] --Milton. Fire damp. See under Damp. Fire dog. See Firedog, in the Vocabulary. Fire drill. (a) A series of evolutions performed by fireman for practice. (b) An apparatus for producing fire by friction, by rapidly twirling a wooden pin in a wooden socket; -- used by the Hindoos during all historic time, and by many savage peoples. Fire eater. (a) A juggler who pretends to eat fire. (b) A quarrelsome person who seeks affrays; a hotspur. [Colloq.] Fire engine, a portable forcing pump, usually on wheels, for throwing water to extinguish fire. Fire escape, a contrivance for facilitating escape from burning buildings. Fire gilding (Fine Arts), a mode of gilding with an amalgam of gold and quicksilver, the latter metal being driven off afterward by heat. Fire gilt (Fine Arts), gold laid on by the process of fire gilding. Fire insurance, the act or system of insuring against fire; also, a contract by which an insurance company undertakes, in consideration of the payment of a premium or small percentage -- usually made periodically -- to indemnify an owner of property from loss by fire during a specified period. Fire irons, utensils for a fireplace or grate, as tongs, poker, and shovel. Fire main, a pipe for water, to be used in putting out fire. Fire master (Mil), an artillery officer who formerly supervised the composition of fireworks. Fire office, an office at which to effect insurance against fire. Fire opal, a variety of opal giving firelike reflections. Fire ordeal, an ancient mode of trial, in which the test was the ability of the accused to handle or tread upon red-hot irons. --Abbot. Fire pan, a pan for holding or conveying fire, especially the receptacle for the priming of a gun. Fire plug, a plug or hydrant for drawing water from the main pipes in a street, building, etc., for extinguishing fires. Fire policy, the writing or instrument expressing the contract of insurance against loss by fire. Fire pot. (a) (Mil.) A small earthen pot filled with combustibles, formerly used as a missile in war. (b) The cast iron vessel which holds the fuel or fire in a furnace. (c) A crucible. (d) A solderer's furnace. Fire raft, a raft laden with combustibles, used for setting fire to an enemy's ships. Fire roll, a peculiar beat of the drum to summon men to their quarters in case of fire. Fire setting (Mining), the process of softening or cracking the working face of a lode, to facilitate excavation, by exposing it to the action of fire; -- now generally superseded by the use of explosives. --Raymond. Fire ship, a vessel filled with combustibles, for setting fire to an enemy's ships. Fire shovel, a shovel for taking up coals of fire. Fire stink, the stench from decomposing iron pyrites, caused by the formation of hydrogen sulfide. --Raymond. Fire surface, the surfaces of a steam boiler which are exposed to the direct heat of the fuel and the products of combustion; heating surface. Fire swab, a swab saturated with water, for cooling a gun in action and clearing away particles of powder, etc. --Farrow. Fire teaser, in England, the fireman of a steam emgine. Fire water, a strong alcoholic beverage; -- so called by the American Indians. Fire worship, the worship of fire, which prevails chiefly in Persia, among the followers of Zoroaster, called Chebers, or Guebers, and among the Parsees of India. Greek fire. See under Greek. On fire, burning; hence, ardent; passionate; eager; zealous. Running fire, the rapid discharge of firearms in succession by a line of troops. St. Anthony's fire, erysipelas; -- an eruptive fever which St. Anthony was supposed to cure miraculously. --Hoblyn. St. Elmo's fire. See under Saint Elmo. To set on fire, to inflame; to kindle. To take fire, to begin to burn; to fly into a passion. [1913 Webster]