English
set
see also: Set, SET
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English setten, from Old English settan, from Proto-West Germanic *sattjan, from Proto-Germanic *satjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sodéyeti, causative of *sed- ("to sit").

Verb

set (sets, present participle setting; simple past and past participle set)

  1. (transitive) To put (something) down, to rest.
    Synonyms: put, lay, set down
    Antonyms: pick up
    Set the tray there.
  2. (transitive) To attach or affix (something) to something else, or in or upon a certain place.
    I have set my heart on running the marathon.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Genesis 4:15 ↗:
      The Lord set a mark upon Cain.
  3. (transitive) To put in a specified condition or state; to cause to be.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Deuteronomy 28:1 ↗:
      The Lord thy God will set thee on high.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Matthew 10:35 ↗:
      I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother.
    • 1827, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Hamlet:
      Every incident sets him thinking.
  4. (transitive) To start (a fire).
    Synonyms: light
    Antonyms: extinguish, put out, quench
  5. (transitive, dated) To cause to stop or stick; to obstruct; to fasten to a spot.
    to set a coach in the mud
  6. (transitive) To determine or settle.
    to set the rent
  7. (transitive) To adjust.
    I set the alarm at 6 a.m. (i.e. I programmed it at that hour to go off at a later time)
    I set the alarm for 6 a.m. (i.e. I programmed it earlier to go off at that hour.)
  8. (transitive) To punch (a nail) into wood so that its head is below the surface.
  9. (transitive) To arrange with dishes and cutlery, to set the table.
    Please set the table for our guests.
  10. (transitive) To introduce or describe.
    I’ll tell you what happened, but first let me set the scene.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter II, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC ↗:
      An incident which happened about this time will set the characters of these two lads more fairly before the discerning reader than is in the power of the longest dissertation.
  11. (transitive) To locate (a play, etc.); to assign a backdrop to, geographically or temporally.
    He says he will set his next film in France.
    Her debut novel is set during the U.S. Civil War.
  12. (transitive) To compile, to make (a puzzle or challenge).
    This crossword was set by Araucaria.
  13. (transitive) To prepare (a stage or film set).
  14. (transitive) To fit (someone) up in a situation.
  15. (transitive) To arrange (type).
    It was a complex page, but he set it quickly.
  16. (transitive) To devise and assign (work) to.
    The teacher set her students the task of drawing a foot.
  17. (transitive, volleyball) To direct (the ball) to a teammate for an attack.
  18. (intransitive) To solidify.
    The glue sets in five minutes.
  19. (transitive) To render stiff or solid; especially, to convert into curd; to curdle.
    to set milk for cheese
  20. (intransitive) Of a heavenly body, to disappear below the horizon of a planet, etc, as the latter rotates.
    The moon sets at eight o'clock tonight.
  21. (transitive, bridge) To defeat a contract.
  22. (obsolete, now followed by "out", as in set out) To begin to move; to go forth.
    • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
      The king is set from London, and the scene is now transported, gentles, to Southampton
  23. (transitive, botany) To produce after pollination.
    to set seed
    • 2012, Daniel Chamovitz, What a Plant Knows, page 155:
      Many fruit trees will only flower and set fruit following a cold winter.
  24. (intransitive, of fruit) To be fixed for growth; to strike root; to begin to germinate or form.
    • 1906, Canada. Dept. of Agriculture. Fruit Branch, Fruit crop report:
      In the Annapolis Valley, in spite of an irregular bloom, the fruit has set well and has, as yet, been little affected by scab.
  25. (intransitive, Southern US, Midwestern US, dialects) To sit be in a seated position.
    He sets in that chair all day.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.
  26. (intransitive, Southern US, Midwestern US, dialects) To rest or lie somewhere, on something, etc.; to occupy a certain place.
  27. To hunt game with the aid of a setter.
  28. (hunting, ambitransitive) Of a dog, to indicate the position of game.
    The dog sets the bird.
    Your dog sets well.
  29. To apply oneself; to undertake earnestly.
    • 1654, H[enry] Hammond, Of Fundamentals in a Notion Referring to Practise, London: […] J[ames] Flesher for Richard Royston, […], →OCLC ↗:
      If he set industriously and sincerely to perform the commands of Christ, he can have no ground of doubting but it shall prove successful to him.
  30. (ambitransitive) To fit music to words.
    • 1709, J[ohn] Dryden, J[ohn] Oldham, “(please specify the page)”, in Mac Flecknoe: A Poem. […] With Spencer’s Ghost: Being a Satyr Concerning Poetry. […], London: […] H[enry] Hills, […], →OCLC ↗:
      Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute.
    • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
      That I might sing it (Madam) to a tune:
      Giue me a Note, your Ladiship can set
  31. (ambitransitive) To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant.
    to set pear trees in an orchard
  32. To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened.
  33. To have a certain direction of motion; to flow; to move on; to tend.
    The current sets to the north; the tide sets to the windward.
  34. (intransitive, country dancing) To acknowledge a dancing partner by facing him or her and moving first to one side and then to the other, while she or he does the opposite.
    Set to partners! was the next instruction from the caller.
  35. To place or fix in a setting.
    to set a precious stone in a border of metal
    to set glass in a sash
    • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗, Act IV, page 58 ↗:
      And him too rich a jewel to be set / In vulgar metal for a vulgar use.
  36. To put in order in a particular manner; to prepare.
    to set (that is, to hone) a razor
    to set a saw
  37. To extend and bring into position; to spread.
    to set the sails of a ship
  38. To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the keynote.
    • 1742, Henry Fielding, “Here Joseph Andrews Writ a Letter to His Sister Pamela”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC ↗, book I, page 25 ↗:
      […] I ſhould be very vvilling to be his Clerk; for vvhich you knovv I am qualified, being able to read, and to ſet a Pſalm.
  39. To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state.
    to set a broken bone
  40. (masonry) To lower into place and fix solidly, as the blocks of cut stone in a structure.
  41. (obsolete) To wager in gambling; to risk.
    • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene iv]:
      I have set my life upon a cast, / And I will stand the hazard of the die.
  42. To adorn with something infixed or affixed; to stud; to variegate with objects placed here and there.
    • 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
      High on their heads, with jewels richly set, / Each lady wore a radiant coronet.
    • 1815, William Wordsworth, Poems of the Imagination:
      pastoral dales thin set with modern farms
  43. (obsolete) To value; to rate; used with at.
    • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:
      Be you contented, wearing now the garland, / To have a son set your decrees at naught.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene iv]:
      I do not set my life at a pin's fee.
  44. To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to assign.
    to set a good example
  45. (Scotland) To suit; to become.
    It sets him ill.
  46. To cause (a domestic fowl) to sit on eggs to brood.
    To set a hen.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Spanish: configurar
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Etymology 2

From Middle English set, sette, from Old English set, from Proto-West Germanic *set, from Proto-Germanic *setą.

Noun

set (plural sets)

  1. A punch for setting nails in wood.
    nail set
  2. A device for receiving broadcast radio waves (or, more recently, broadcast data); a radio or television.
    television set
  3. Alternative form of sett
  4. Alternative form of sett
  5. Alternative form of sett
  6. (horticulture) A small tuber or bulb used instead of seed, particularly onion sets and potato sets.
  7. The amount by which the teeth of a saw protrude to the side in order to create the kerf.
  8. (engineering) A permanent change of shape caused by excessive strain, as from compression, tension, bending, twisting, etc.
    the set of a spring
  9. A bias of mind; an attitude or pattern of behaviour.
  10. (piledriving) A piece placed temporarily upon the head of a pile when the latter cannot otherwise be reached by the weight, or hammer.
  11. (printing, dated) The width of the body of a type.
  12. A young oyster when first attached.
  13. Collectively, the crop of young oysters in any locality.
  14. A series or group of something. (Note the similar meaning in Etymology 4, Noun)
  15. (colloquial) The manner, state, or quality of setting or fitting; fit.
    the set of a coat
  16. The pattern of a tartan, etc.
  17. The camber of a curved roofing tile.
  18. The full number of eggs set under a hen.
  19. (obsolete, rare) That which is staked; a wager; hence, a gambling game.
    • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
      We will in France, by God's grace, play a set / Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.
    • 1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC ↗:
      That was but civil war, an equal set.
    • 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC ↗:
      Thenceforth the Dowager, with a light and careless humour, often recounted to her particular acquaintance how, after a hard trial, she had found it impossible to know those people who belonged to Henry’s wife, and who had made that desperate set to catch him.
Translations Translations
  • Russian: развод зуб
Translations Etymology 3

From Middle English sett, from Old English ġesett, past participle of settan.

Adjective

set

  1. Fixed in position.
  2. Rigid, solidified.
  3. Ready, prepared.
    on your marks, get set, go!;  on your marks, set, go!
  4. Intent, determined (to do something).
    set on getting to his destination
    • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “In which Jim and I Take Different Ways”, in The Wrecker, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC ↗, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t70v8fv5c&view=1up&seq=197 page 179]:
      And she likes you so much, and thinks you so accomplished and distingué-looking, and was just as set as I was to have you for best man.
  5. Prearranged.
    a set menu
    a set book
  6. Fixed in one’s opinion.
    I’m set against the idea of smacking children to punish them.
  7. (of hair) Fixed in a certain style.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Etymology 4

From Middle English set, sete, sette ("that which is set, the act of setting, seat"), from Old English set and Old English seten, related to Old English settan.

Noun

set (plural sets)

  1. A young plant fit for setting out; a slip; shoot.
  2. A rudimentary fruit.
  3. The setting of the sun or other luminary; (by extension) the close of the day.
    • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Adeline”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC ↗, page 41 ↗:
      And a rose-bush leans upon, / Thou that faintly smilest still, / As a Naiad in a well, / Looking at the set of day, […]
    • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene iii]:
      The weary sun hath made a golden set.
  4. (literally and figuratively) General movement; direction; drift; tendency.
    • 1840, Thomas De Quincey, Style:
      Here and there, amongst individuals alive to the particular evils of the age, and watching the very set of the current, there may have been even a more systematic counteraction applied to the mischief.
  5. A matching collection of similar things. (Note the similar meaning in Etymology 2, Noun.)
    a set of tables
  6. A collection of various objects for a particular purpose.
    a set of tools
  7. An object made up of several parts.
    a set of steps
  8. (set theory) A collection of zero or more objects, possibly infinite in size, and disregarding any order or repetition of the objects which may be contained within it.
  9. (in plural, “sets”, mathematics, informal) Set theory.
  10. A group of people, usually meeting socially.
    the country set
    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XIX, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC ↗:
      That he took perfumed baths is a truth; and he used to say that he took them after meeting certain men of a very low set in hall.
  11. The scenery for a film or play.
  12. the general locations and area where a movie’s, a film’s, or a video’s scenery is arranged to be filmed also including places for actors, assorted crew, director, producers which are typically not filmed.
  13. (dance) The initial or basic formation of dancers.
  14. (exercise) A group of repetitions of a single exercise performed one after the other without rest.
    Meronym: reps
    • 1974, Charles Gaines, George Butler, Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding, page 22:
      This is the fourth set of benchpresses.
  15. (tennis) A complete series of games, forming part of a match.
  16. (volleyball) A complete series of points, forming part of a match.
  17. (volleyball) The act of directing the ball to a teammate for an attack.
  18. (music) A musical performance by a band, disc jockey, etc., consisting of several musical pieces.
  19. (music) A drum kit, a drum set.
    He plays the set on Saturdays.
  20. (UK, education) A class group in a subject where pupils are divided by ability.
  21. (poker, slang) Three of a kind, especially if two cards are in one's hand and the third is on the board. Compare trips ("three of a kind, especially with two cards on the board and one in one's hand").
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

set (sets, present participle setting; simple past and past participle setted)

  1. (UK, education) To divide a class group in a subject according to ability
    • 2008, Patricia Murphy, Robert McCormick, Knowledge and Practice: Representations and Identities:
      In setted classes, students are brought together because they are believed to be of similar 'ability'. Yet, setted lessons are often conducted as though students are not only similar, but identical—in terms of ability, preferred learning style and pace of working.
Set
Etymology

Borrowed from Coptic ⲥⲏⲧ, from Ancient Egyptian stẖ.

Pronunciation Proper noun
  1. (Egyptian god) An ancient Egyptian god, variously described as the god of chaos, the god of thunder and storms, or the god of destruction.
Translations
SET
Noun

set (uncountable)

  1. Gene for a human protein involved in apoptosis, transcription and nucleosome assembly.
  2. Initialism of Simulated Emergency Test, an amateur radio training exercise.
Proper noun
  1. Initialism of Strategic Energy Technologies Plan of the European Union.
  2. Initialism of Stock Exchange of Thailand, the national stock exchange of Thailand.


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