Search the Dictionary

Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



41 words match “BESET”

HISPID a.
Beset with stiff hairs or bristles.
JAG n.
nce; a denticulation. Arethuss arose . . . From rock and from jag. Shelley. Garments thus beset with long jags. Holland.
LAY v.
ll one's strength. -- To lay siege to. (a) To besiege; to encompass with an army. (b) To beset pertinaciously. -- To lay the course (Naut.), to sail toward the port intended without jibing. -- To lay the land (Naut.), to cause it to disappear below the horizon, by sailing away from it. -- To lay to (a) To charge up…
LIME-TWIGGED a.
Beset with snares; insnared, as with birdlime. L. Addison.
MIDST n.
Hence, figuratively, the condition of being surrounded or beset; the press; the burden; as, in the midst of official duties; in the midst of secular affairs.
OBSESS v.
To besiege; to beset. Sir T. Elyot.
OBSESSION n.
The state of being besieged; -- used specifically of a person beset by a spirit from without. Tylor. Whether by obsession or possession, I will not determine. Burton.
PERSECUTE v.
To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death, for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship. Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. M…
PILIFEROUS a.
Beset with hairs.
SCRATCH n.
. -- Scratch grass (Bot.), a climbing knotweed (Polygonum sagittatum) with a square stem beset with fine recurved prickles along the angles. -- Scratch wig. Same as Scratch, 4, above. Thackeray.
SERRATE; SERRATED a.
Beset with teeth pointing forwards or upwards; as, serrate leaves. Doubly serrate, having small serratures upon the large ones, as the leaves of the elm. -- Serrate-ciliate, having fine hairs, like the eyelashes, on the serratures; -- said of a leaf. -- Serrate-dentate, having the serratures toothed.…
SIEGE v.
To besiege; to beset. [R.] Through all the dangers that can siege The life of man. Buron.
SQUIRREL n.
s (Hordeum jubatum) found in salt marshes and along the Great Lakes, having a dense spike beset with long awns.
SUNDEW n.
Any plant of the genus Drosera, low bog plants whose leaves are beset with pediceled glands which secrete a viscid fluid that glitters like dewdrops and attracts and detains insects. After an insect is caught, the glands curve inward like tentacles and the leaf digests it. Called also lustwort.
SUPEREMINENCE; SUPEREMINENCY n.
nence of Cicero as an orator, or Lord Chatham as a statesman. Ayliffe. He was not forever beset with the consciousness of his own supereminence. Prof. Wilson.
TEAR-THUMB n.
A name given to several species of plants of the genus Polygonum, having angular stems beset with minute reflexed prickles.
UNBE v.
To cause not to be; to cause to be another. [Obs. & R.] How oft, with danger of the field beset, Or with home mutinies, would he unbe Himself! Old Pay.
URGENT a.
Urging; pressing; besetting; plying, with importunity; calling for immediate attention; instantly important. "The urgent hour." Shak. Some urgent cause to ordain the contrary. Hooker. The Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste. Ex. xii. 33.
WAYLAY v.
the way; especially, to watch for the passing of, with a view to seize, rob, or slay; to beset in ambush. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill shall rob those men that we have already waylaid. Shak. She often contrived to waylay him in his walks. Sir W. Scott.
WOE-BEGONE a.
Beset or overwhelmed with woe; immersed in grief or sorrow; woeful. Chaucer. So woe-begone was he with pains of love. Fairfax.
← Previous Page 2 of 3 Next →