siege

4 definitions found

siege - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Siege \Siege\, v. t.
     To besiege; to beset. [R.]
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           Through all the dangers that can siege
           The life of man.                         --Buron.
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  Siege \Siege\, n. [OE. sege, OF. siege, F. si[`e]ge a seat, a
     siege; cf. It. seggia, seggio, zedio, a seat, asseggio,
     assedio, a siege, F. assi['e]ger to besiege, It. & LL.
     assediare, L. obsidium a siege, besieging; all ultimately fr.
     L. sedere to sit. See Sit, and cf. See, n.]
     1. A seat; especially, a royal seat; a throne. [Obs.] "Upon
        the very siege of justice." --Shak.
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              A stately siege of sovereign majesty,
              And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay. --Spenser.
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              In our great hall there stood a vacant chair . . .
              And Merlin called it "The siege perilous."
                                                    --Tennyson.
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     2. Hence, place or situation; seat. [Obs.]
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              Ah! traitorous eyes, come out of your shameless
              siege forever.                        --Painter
                                                    (Palace of
                                                    Pleasure).
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     3. Rank; grade; station; estimation. [Obs.]
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              I fetch my life and being
              From men of royal siege.              --Shak.
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     4. Passage of excrements; stool; fecal matter. [Obs.]
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              The siege of this mooncalf.           --Shak.
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     5. The sitting of an army around or before a fortified place
        for the purpose of compelling the garrison to surrender;
        the surrounding or investing of a place by an army, and
        approaching it by passages and advanced works, which cover
        the besiegers from the enemy's fire. See the Note under
        Blockade.
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     6. Hence, a continued attempt to gain possession.
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              Love stood the siege, and would not yield his
              breast.                               --Dryden.
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     7. The floor of a glass-furnace.
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     8. A workman's bench. --Knught.
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     Siege gun, a heavy gun for siege operations.
  
     Siege train, artillery adapted for attacking fortified
        places.
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siege - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  siege
      n 1: the action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified
           place and isolates it while continuing to attack [syn:
           siege, besieging, beleaguering, military blockade]

siege - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  32 Moby Thesaurus words for "siege":
     attack, beleaguer, beleaguerment, besetment, besiege, besiegement,
     blockade, blockading, bottle up, bout, circumscription,
     confinement, cordon off, cordoning, encircle, encirclement,
     enclosure, encompassment, envelopment, go, immurement,
     imprisonment, incarceration, inclusion, investment, lay siege to,
     onslaught, pincer movement, quarantine, seizure, spell,
     vertical envelopment