Definition of "set"

set¹

/sɛt/

verb
third-person singular simple present sets, present participle setting, simple past set, past participle set or (dialectal) setten
1. (transitive) To put (something) down, to rest.
2. (transitive) To attach or affix (something) to something else, or in or upon a certain place.
  Quotations
  The Lord set a mark upon Cain.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Genesis 4:15
3. (transitive) To put in a specified condition or state; to cause to be.
  Quotations
  The Lord thy God will set thee on high.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Deuteronomy 28:1
  I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Matthew 10:35
  Every incident sets him thinking.
  1827, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Hamlet
4. (transitive) To start (a fire).
5. (transitive, dated) To cause to stop or stick; to obstruct; to fasten to a spot.
6. (transitive) To determine or settle.
7. (transitive) To adjust.
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.
10. (transitive) To introduce or describe.
  Quotations
  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.
  1749, Henry Fielding, chapter II, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], book III
11. (transitive) simple past and past participle of set To locate (a play, etc.); to assign a backdrop to, geographically or temporally.
12. (transitive) simple past and past participle of set To compile, to make (a puzzle or challenge).
13. (transitive) To prepare (a stage or film set).
14. (transitive) To fit (someone) up in a situation.
15. (transitive) To arrange (type).
16. (transitive) To devise and assign (work) to.
17. (transitive, volleyball) To direct (the ball) to a teammate for an attack.
18. (intransitive) To solidify.
19. (transitive) To render stiff or solid; especially, to convert into curd; to curdle.
20. (intransitive) Of a heavenly body, to disappear below the horizon of a planet, etc, as the latter rotates.
21. (transitive, bridge) To defeat a contract.
22. (obsolete, now followed by "out", as in set out) To begin to move; to go forth.
  Quotations
  The king is set from London, and the scene is now transported, gentles, to Southampton
  1599, 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, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)
23. (transitive, botany) To produce after pollination.
  Quotations
  Many fruit trees will only flower and set fruit following a cold winter.
  2012, Daniel Chamovitz, What a Plant Knows, page 155
24. (intransitive, of fruit) To be fixed for growth; to strike root; to begin to germinate or form.
  Quotations
  In the Annapolis Valley, in spite of an irregular bloom, the fruit has set well and has, as yet, been little affected by scab.
  1906, Canada. Dept. of Agriculture. Fruit Branch, Fruit crop report
25. (intransitive, Southern US, Midwestern US, dialects) To sit (be in a seated position).
  Quotations
  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.
  1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
  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.
  1987, Toni Morrison, Beloved, page 227
26. (intransitive, Southern US, Midwestern US, dialects) To rest or lie somewhere, on something, etc.; to occupy a certain place.
  Quotations
  Well, we rolled up Interstate 44Like a rocket-sled on rails.We tore up all of our swindle sheetsAnd left 'em settin' on the scales.
  1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall
27. To hunt game with the aid of a setter.
28. (hunting, transitive, intransitive) Of a dog, to indicate the position of game.
29. To apply oneself; to undertake earnestly.
  Quotations
  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.
  1654, H[enry] Hammond, Of Fundamentals in a Notion Referring to Practise, London: […] J[ames] Flesher for Richard Royston, […]
30. (transitive, intransitive) To fit music to words.
  Quotations
  Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute.
  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, […]
  That I might sing it (Madam) to a tune:Giue me a Note, your Ladiship can set
  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, [Act I, scene ii]
31. (transitive, intransitive) To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant.
  Quotations
  Mr. Forster, from Newcastle, made a purchase here last year. We saw him with eight men setting potatoes within a week of mid-summer.
  1774, John Robinson, Thomas Rispin, A Journey Through Nova-Scotia Containing a Particular Account of the Country and its Inhabitants, York: C. Etherington, page 19
32. To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened.
33. To have a certain direction of motion; to flow; to move on; to tend.
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.
35. To place or fix in a setting.
  Quotations
  And him too rich a jewel to be set / In vulgar metal for a vulgar use.
  1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], Act IV, page 58
36. To put in order in a particular manner; to prepare.
37. To extend and bring into position; to spread.
38. To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the keynote.
  Quotations
  I should be very willing to be his clerk; for which you know I am qualified, being able to read, and to set a psalm
  1743, Henry Fielding, The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], 3rd edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […]
39. To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state.
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.
  Quotations
  I have set my life upon a cast, / And I will stand the hazard of the die.
  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, [Act V, scene iv]
42. To adorn with something infixed or affixed; to stud; to variegate with objects placed here and there.
  Quotations
  High on their heads, with jewels richly set, / Each lady wore a radiant coronet.
  1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
  pastoral dales thin set with modern farms
  1815, William Wordsworth, Poems of the Imagination
43. (obsolete) To value; to rate; used with at.
  Quotations
  Be you contented, wearing now the garland, / To have a son set your decrees at naught.
  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, [Act V, scene ii]
  I do not set my life at a pin's fee.
  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, [Act I, scene iv]
44. To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to assign.
45. (Scotland) To suit; to become.

set²

/sɛt/

noun
plural sets
1. A punch for setting nails in wood.
2. A device for receiving broadcast radio waves (or, more recently, broadcast data); a radio or television.
3. Alternative form of sett (“a hole made and lived in by a badger”)
4. Alternative form of sett (“pattern of threads and yarns”)
5. Alternative form of 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 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.
  Quotations
  The wings were bent or set permanently 2 to 3 inches upward at the wingtips; however, the set was within the manufacturer's allowable tolerances.
  1986 March 29, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.12 Wreckage and Impact Information”, in Aircraft Accident Report: China Airlines Boeing 747-SP, N4522V, 300 Nautical Miles Northwest of San Francisco, California, February 19, 1985‎, archived from the original on 10 July 2022, page 12
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.
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.
  Quotations
  We will in France, by God's grace, play a set / Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.
  1599, 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, [Act I, scene ii]
  That was but civil war, an equal set.
  1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […]
  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.
  1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857

set³

/sɛt/

adjective
comparative more set, superlative most set
1. Fixed in position.
  Quotations
  Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
  2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34
2. Rigid, solidified.
3. Ready, prepared.
4. Intent, determined (to do something).
  Quotations
  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.
  1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “In which Jim and I Take Different Ways”, in The Wrecker, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, […], page 179
5. Prearranged.
6. Fixed in one’s opinion.
7. (of hair) Fixed in a certain style.

set⁴

/sɛt/

noun
plural sets
1. A young plant fit for setting out; a slip; shoot.
2. A rudimentary fruit.
3. (by extension) the close of the day.
  Quotations
  And a rose-bush leans upon, / Thou that faintly smilest still, / As a Naiad in a well, / Looking at the set of day, […]
  1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Adeline”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], page 41
  The weary sun hath made a golden set.
  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, [Act V, scene iii]
4. (literally and figuratively) General movement; direction; drift; tendency.
  Quotations
  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.
  1840, Thomas De Quincey, Style
  He put his eye to the alidade. “I thought so! Zero five four and that's allowing nothing for set and drift along the line of bearing. We're inside the departure point now […] ”
  1951, Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny, page 238
5. A matching collection of similar things. (Note the similar meaning in Etymology 2, Noun.)
6. A collection of various objects for a particular purpose.
7. An object made up of several parts.
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XIX, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850
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.
  Quotations
  This is the fourth set of benchpresses.
  1974, Charles Gaines, George Butler, Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding, page 22
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.
  Quotations
  You heard “oh, Jeremy Corbyn” everywhere: at the silent disco, during Radiohead’s Friday night headlining set, midway through the Other stage appearance by rapper Stormzy, who gamely joined in.
  2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian‎
19. (music) A drum kit, a drum set.
20. (UK, education) A class group in a subject where pupils are divided by ability.
  Quotations
  Looking at pupil attainment, the study found that students with the same Key Stage 3 scores could have their GCSE grade raised or lowered by up to half a grade as a result of being placed in a higher or lower set.
  2012 April 26, “Themes: Pupil grouping and organisation of classes”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎, Department for Education, archived from the original on 14 June 2012
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”).

set⁵

/sɛt/

verb
third-person singular simple present sets, present participle setting, simple past and past participle setted
1. (UK, education) To divide a class group in a subject according to ability
  Quotations
  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.
  2008, Patricia Murphy, Robert McCormick, Knowledge and Practice: Representations and Identities
  At Amber Hill, setting was a high-profile concept, and the students were frequently reminded of the set to which they belonged.
  2002, Jo Boaler, Experiencing School Mathematics: Traditional and Reform Approaches and Their Impact on Student Learning
  Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.
  2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30

Definition of "set"

set1

verb

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set2

noun

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set3

adjective

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set4

noun

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set5

verb

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set¹

set²

set³

set⁴

set⁵