English
set
see also: Set
Pronunciation Verb

set (sets, present participle setting; past set, 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.
    • Bible, Genesis 4:15
      The Lord set a mark upon Cain.
  3. (transitive) To put in a specified condition or state; to cause to be.
    • Bible, Deuteronomy 28:1
      The Lord thy God will set thee on high.
    • Bible, Matthew 10:35
      I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother.
    • 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.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter II, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume (please specify ), London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292 ↗, book III:
    I’ll tell you what happened, but first let me set the scene.
  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 four 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.
    • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V
      The king is set from London, and the scene is now transported, gentles, to Southampton
  23. (transitive, botany) To produce after pollination.
    • 2012, Daniel Chamovitz, What a Plant Knows, p. 155
      Many fruit trees will only flower and set fruit following a cold winter.
    to set seed
  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.
    • 1987, Toni Morrison, Beloved, page 227 ↗:
      And if Mrs. Garner didn't need me right there in the kitchen, I could get a chair and you and me could set out there while I did the vegetables.
    He sets in that chair all day.
  26. To hunt game with the aid of a setter.
  27. (hunting, ambitransitive) Of a dog, to indicate the position of game.
    The dog sets the bird.
    Your dog sets well.
  28. To apply oneself; to undertake earnestly.
    • 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.
  29. (ambitransitive) To fit music to words.
    • Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute.
  30. (ambitransitive) To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant.
    to set pear trees in an orchard
    • Old proverb
      Sow dry, and set wet.
  31. To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened.
  32. 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.
  33. (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.
  34. To place or fix in a setting.
    to set a precious stone in a border of metal
    to set glass in a sash
    • And him too rich a jewel to be set / In vulgar metal for a vulgar use.
  35. To put in order in a particular manner; to prepare.
    to set (that is, to hone) a razor
    to set a saw
  36. To extend and bring into position; to spread.
    to set the sails of a ship
  37. To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the keynote.
    to set a psalm
  38. To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state.
    to set a broken bone
  39. (masonry) To lower into place and fix solidly, as the blocks of cut stone in a structure.
  40. (obsolete) To wager in gambling; to risk.
    • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iv]:
      I have set my life upon a cast, / And I will stand the hazard of the die.
  41. To adorn with something infixed or affixed; to stud; to variegate with objects placed here and there.
    • High on their heads, with jewels richly set, / Each lady wore a radiant coronet.
    • pastoral dales thin set with modern farms
  42. (obsolete) To value; to rate; used with at.
    • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:
      Be you contented, wearing now the garland, / To have a son set your decrees at naught.
    • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iv]:
      I do not set my life at a pin's fee.
  43. To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to assign.
    ''to set a good example
  44. (Scotland) To suit; to become.
    It sets him ill.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations 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#English|sett: a hole made and lived in by a badger.
  4. Alternative form of sett#English|sett: pattern of threads and yarns.
  5. Alternative form of sett#English|sett: piece of quarried stone.
  6. (horticulture) A small tuber or bulb used instead of seed, particularly onion sets and potato sets.
  7. The amount the teeth of a saw protrude to the side in order to create the kerf.
  8. (obsolete, rare) That which is staked; a wager; hence, a gambling game.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
      We will in France, by God's grace, play a set / Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.
    • That was but civil war, an equal set.
  9. (engineering) Permanent change of shape caused by excessive strain, as from compression, tension, bending, twisting, etc.
    the set of a spring
  10. A bias of mind; an attitude or pattern of behaviour.
  11. (piledriving) A piece placed temporarily upon the head of a pile when the latter cannot otherwise be reached by the weight, or hammer.
  12. (printing, dated) The width of the body of a type.
  13. A young oyster when first attached.
  14. Collectively, the crop of young oysters in any locality.
  15. A series or group of something. (Note the similar meaning in Etymology 4, Noun)
  16. (colloquial) The manner, state, or quality of setting or fitting; fit.
    the set of a coat
  17. The pattern of a tartan, etc.
  18. The camber of a curved roofing tile.
  19. The full number of eggs set under a hen.
Translations Translations
  • Russian: разво́д зуб
Translations 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
  5. Prearranged.
    a set menu
  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 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.
    • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Adeline
      the set of day
    • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iii]:
      The weary sun hath made a golden set.
  4. (literally and figuratively) General movement; direction; drift; tendency.
    • 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 1, 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
  11. The scenery for a film or play.
  12. (dance) The initial or basic formation of dancers.
  13. (exercise) A group of repetitions of a single exercise performed one after the other without rest.
    • 1974, Charles Gaines & George Butler, Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding, page 22.
      This is the fourth set of benchpresses.
  14. (tennis) A complete series of games, forming part of a match.
  15. (volleyball) A complete series of points, forming part of a match.
  16. (volleyball) The act of directing the ball to a teammate for an attack.
  17. (music) A musical performance by a band, disc jockey, etc., consisting of several musical pieces.
  18. (music) A drum kit, a drum set.
    He plays the set on Saturdays.
  19. (UK, education) A class group in a subject where pupils are divided by ability.
  20. (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
  • French: set
  • German: Satz
  • Portuguese: set
  • Russian: сет
  • Spanish: set
Translations
  • French: set
  • Portuguese: set
  • Russian: пас
Verb

set (sets, present participle setting; 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
Pronunciation Proper noun
  1. (Egyptian mythology) An ancient Egyptian god, variously described as the god of chaos, the god of thunder and storms, or the god of destruction.
Translations
  • French: Seth
  • German: Seth
  • Italian: Seth
  • Portuguese: Set, Seth
  • Russian: Сет


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