Found 1 items, similar to To set about.
English → English (gcide) Definition: To set about 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] About \A*bout"\, adv. 1. On all sides; around. [1913 Webster] 'Tis time to look about. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. In circuit; circularly; by a circuitous way; around the outside; as, a mile about, and a third of a mile across. [1913 Webster] 3. Here and there; around; in one place and another. [1913 Webster] Wandering about from house to house. --1 Tim. v. 13. [1913 Webster] 4. Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence, in quality, manner, degree, etc.; as, about as cold; about as high; -- also of quantity, number, time. “There fell . . . about three thousand men.” --Exod. xxii. 28. [1913 Webster] 5. To a reserved position; half round; in the opposite direction; on the opposite tack; as, to face about; to turn one's self about. [1913 Webster] To bring about, to cause to take place; to accomplish. To come about, to occur; to take place. See under Come. To go about, To set about, to undertake; to arrange; to prepare. “Shall we set about some revels?” --Shak. Round about, in every direction around. [1913 Webster]