• enPR: sēj IPA: /siːdʒ/

siege (plural sieges)

1. (heading) Military action.
   1. (military) A prolonged military assault or a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition.
      • 1748, David Hume, Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Section 3 §5:

        The Peloponnesian war is a proper subject for history, the siege of Athens for an epic poem, and the death of Alcibiades for a tragedy.

   2. (US) A period of struggle or difficulty, especially from illness.
   3. (figuratively) A prolonged assault or attack.
2. (heading) A seat.
   1. (obsolete) A seat, especially as used by someone of importance or authority.
      • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:5.2?rgn=div2;view=fulltext chapter ij], in Le Morte Darthur, book V.

        Now Merlyn said kyng Arthur / goo thow and aspye me in al this land l knyghtes whiche ben of most prowesse & worship / within short tyme merlyn had founde suche knyȝtes […] Thenne the Bisshop of Caunterbury was fette and he blessid the syeges with grete Royalte and deuoycyon / and there sette the viij and xx knyghtes in her syeges

      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queen, II.vii:

        To th'vpper part, where was aduaunced hye / A stately siege of soueraigne maiestye; / And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay […].

   2. (obsolete) An ecclesiastical see.
   3. (obsolete) The place where one has his seat; a home, residence, domain, empire.
   4. The seat of a heron while looking out for prey; a flock of heron.
   5. (obsolete) A toilet seat.
   6. (obsolete) The anus; the rectum.
      • 1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, III.17:

        Another ground were certain holes or cavities observable about the siege; which being perceived in males, made some conceive there might be also a feminine nature in them.

   7. (obsolete) Excrements, stool, fecal matter.
      • 1610, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, act 2 scene 2

        Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How cam'st thou / to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he vent Trinculos?

   8. (obsolete) Rank; grade; station; estimation.
      • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, 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]:

        I fetch my life and being / From men of royal siege.

   9. (obsolete) The floor of a glass-furnace.
   10. (obsolete) A workman's bench.
3. (obsolete) A place with a toilet seat: an outhouse; a lavatory.

• (place with a toilet seat) See Thesaurus:bathroom

• French: siège
• German: Belagerung
• Italian: assedio
• Portuguese: sítio, cerco, assédio
• Russian: оса́да
• Spanish: sitio, asedio

siege (sieges, present participle sieging; past and past participle sieged)

1. (transitive, uncommon) To assault a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition; to besiege.

   Synonyms: besiege