Beset
[bɪ'set] or [bɪ'sɛt]
Definition
(verb.) assail or attack on all sides: 'The zebra was beset by leopards'.
Checker: Rowena--From WordNet
Definition
(imp. & p. p.) of Beset
(v. t.) To set or stud (anything) with ornaments or prominent objects.
(v. t.) To hem in; to waylay; to surround; to besiege; to blockade.
(v. t.) To set upon on all sides; to perplex; to harass; -- said of dangers, obstacles, etc.
(v. t.) To occupy; to employ; to use up.
Checker: Zachariah
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Surround, encompass, environ, encircle, enclose, besiege, hem in.[2]. Embarrass, perplex, entangle.
Edited by Clare
Definition
v.t. to surround or set round with anything (now only in pa.p.): to surround with hostile intentions to besiege: to occupy so as to allow none to go out or in: to assail perplex endanger as by temptations obstacles &c.:—pr.p. beset′ting; pa.t. and pa.p. beset′.—ns. Beset′ment; Beset′ter.—p.adj. Beset′ting that besets as in 'besetting sin.'
Typist: Manfred
Examples
- The man was beset by friends who told him he was mad to continue the chase, and that his undoubted talents in other lines were being wasted. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Hindrances and pitfalls, dear girls, which beset us on our way to higher things! Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- The chill of Mrs. Fairfax's warnings, and the damp of her doubts were upon me: something of unsubstantiality and uncertainty had beset my hopes. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- I was almost as hard beset by him now as I had been once before, in a different way, by another. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- You will probably keep a larger house, have many matters to arrange, and be beset by numbers of correspondents. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- He is beset by sharpers: John is sunk and degraded--his look is frightful--I feel ashamed for him when I see him. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- You don't know, and you can't, the daily, hourly trials that beset a housekeeper from them, everywhere and every way. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Protestants are rarely superstitious; these morbid fancies will not beset _you? Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- My Liege, said the Friar, I humbly crave your pardon; and you would readily grant my excuse, did you but know how the sin of laziness has beset me. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- I am beset here with neighbours that match your infidels, Sir Knight, in Holy Land. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Little recked Mr Podsnap of the traps and toils besetting his Young Person. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- They are your besetting sin. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- My terror, as I lay there, of falling ill, and being unfitted for to-morrow, was so besetting, that I wonder it did not disable me of itself. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- There are briars besetting every path, Which call for patient care; There is a cross in every lot, And an earnest need for prayer. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Hunger and cold are her comrades; sadness hovers over, and solitude besets her round. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
Edited by Everett