| 释义 |
beset, v.|bɪˈsɛt|
Pa. tense and pa. pple. beset. Also 1–6 bi-, by-. For forms see set.
[Com. Teut.: OE. bi-, besęttan = OHG. bisezzan (MHG. and mod.G. besetzen), OS. bisettjan (MDu. besetten, Du. bezetten), Goth. (and OTeut.) bisatjan, f. bi-, be- about + satjan (OE. sęttan) to set, causal of sitjan to sit. Beset is thus the causal to besit.]
I. To set about, surround. All trans.
1. To set (a thing) about with accessories or appendages of any kind; to surround with things set in their places. Now only in pa. pple.
a1000Beowulf 2910 Swa hine fyrn-dagum worhte wæpna smið wundrum téode besette swin-licum. c1200Ormin 8169 Itt wass eȝȝwhær bisett Wiþþ deorewurþe staness. 1388Wyclif Ecclus. xxviii. 28 Bisette thin eeris with thornes. a1529Skelton Vox Pop. Wks. 1843 II. 404 His tabell..With platt besett inowe. 1563Pilkington Serm. Wks. (1842) 657 Many of the university..beset the walls of the Church and Church-porch on both sides with verses. 1598R. Barckley Felic. Man iii. (1603) 253, I made orchards and gardens, and beset them with all kinde of trees. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 557 They take a..young man, whom they dress in the apparel of a woman, besetting him with divers odoriferous flowers and spices. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. (1776) 196 The Disk is beset with Points that are sharp and stiff. 1834De Quincey Cæsars Wks. X. 231 A diadem or tiara beset with pearls.
†b. more vaguely: To surround, encircle, cover round with. Obs.
1580Lyly Euphues (1636) I ij b, His face did shine as it were beset with the Sun-beames. 1593Nashe Christ's T. Wks. 1883–4 IV. 207 Euen as Angels are painted..besette with Sunne-beames so beset they theyr fore-heads..with glorious borrowed gleamy bushes. 1727Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Distilling, It's necessary you should beset it [a Retort], even to the very End of the Beak, with a Sort of Stuff made of Potters Earth.
2. To set or station themselves round, to surround with hostile intent.
a. To set upon or assail on all sides (a person).
a1225Meid. Maregr. xvii, Ðes houndes habbet me biset. a1300Cursor M. 15783 Þei bigon to awake And him faste aboute biset. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 143 Monkynde in þo stat of innocense when he..was not bysett wiþ enmyes. c1440York Myst. xliv. 55 Þe Jewes besettis vs in ilke aside. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 19 b, Than he is a strypplynge, all beset aboute with ennemyes. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 88, I..Drew to defend him, when he was beset. 1718Pope Iliad xvii. 148 The lioness..beset by men and hounds. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets vii. 194 The Erinnyes, whose business it is to beset the house of the evil-doer.
b. To invest, or surround (a place); to besiege. (Not now said of a regular army besieging a town).
a1225Ancr. R. 300 Þe buruh..þet he heueden biset. 1297R. Glouc. 387 Þuderward he heyde vaste, And þer castel bysette. a1300Cursor M. 7056 In his tyme was troy biset. c1380Sir Ferumb. 3539 For þe Amyral..had be-set þe brigge aboute With strengþe and with gynne. c1520Adam Bel 47 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 141 Thys place hath ben besette for you. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia iii. ix. 79 Salvages, well armed, had inuironed the house, and beset the fields. 1740L. Clarke Hist. Bible vi. 341 They went and beset the town by night. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 107 The partizans of Oswulf beset the house where Copsige was.
c. To occupy (a road, gate, or passage), esp. so as to prevent any one from passing.
a1300Cursor M. 15012 Wiþ harpe & pipe..þe weye þei him bisette. 1580Baret Alv. B 559 All the wayes were beset with garrisons of enemies. 1635N. R. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. 75 Morton in the meane time beset all passages of access. 1753Life J. Frith (1829) 76 Sir Thomas More..persecuted him both by land and sea, besetting all the ways, havens, and ports. 1852McCulloch Taxation Introd. 28 The mob, which beset all the avenues to the House of Commons.
†d. To circumvent, entrap, catch. Obs.
1616Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 37 Hee shall make readie his Nets to catch Birds, and to beset the Hares.
3. fig. To encompass, surround, assail, possess detrimentally:
a. said of temptations, dangers, difficulties, obstacles, evil influences.
a1000Andreas (Gr.) 1257 Þa se halᵹa wæs..earoþancum beseted. c1200Ormin 12954 O mannkinn þatt wass all bisett Wiþþ siness þessterrnesse. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 58 Whanne that two vices be sette one euelle delite, gladly they bringe her maister into temptacion. 1611Bible Heb. xii. 1 Let vs lay aside..the sinne which doth so easily beset vs. 1712Addison Spect. No. 441 ⁋1 [Man] is beset with Dangers on all sides. 1741Richardson Pamela I. 73 A poor Maiden, that is hard beset. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 240 The difficulties by which the government was beset. 1874Helps Soc. Press. ii. 18 The hopelessness which gradually besets all people in a great town like London.
b. of the difficulties, perils, obstacles which beset an action, work, or course.
1800Currie Life Burns (1800) I. Ded. 21 The task was beset with considerable difficulties. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xii. 254 The tale is beset with contradictions. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 138 The difficulties that beset such an explanation.
c. of actual enemies forming schemes against one's life or property. rare.
1682Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 202 Our lives and estates are besett here.
†d. pass. To be possessed (with devils). Obs.
1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 176/1 The deuyls that Saynt Germayn had dryuen out of suche bodyes as were biseten. Ibid. 196/3 Men that were wood and byset with deuyls.
4. gen. To close round; to surround, hem in. (Often with some allusion to senses 2 and 3, as in ‘to be beset by ice.’)
c1534tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 57 The towne..being on all sides beesett with wooddes and fenns. 1642Rogers Naaman 345 Foggy clouds which doe beset the cleare sky. 1738Wesley Ps. cxxxix. iv, Within thy circling Arms I lie Beset on every side. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. x. (1856) 73 We are now again fast, completely ‘beset.’ 1870Hawthorne Eng. Note-Bks. (1879) II. 243 The mountains which beset it round.
II. To set (in fig. sense), to bestow. All trans.
†5. To set or place (one's mind, affections, faith, trust, love) on or upon (any one); = set v.1 Obs.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 101 Cristene men ne sculen heore bileafe bisettan on þere weor(l)dliche eahte. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋532 Thay ben accursed..that on such filthe bisetten here bileeve. c1440Generydes 5021, I do very right, Though I besette my loue on suche a knyght. c1449Pecock Repr. 295 His over great trust which..he bisettid upon hem. 1627Bp. Hall Metaphr. Ps. iv, Offer the truest sacrifice Of broken hearts, on God besetting Your only trust.
†6. To employ, expend, spend (one's words, wit, money, time, pains, study). Obs. Cf. bestow.
a1240Sawles Warde in Lamb. Hom. 249 Warschipe þat best con bisetten hire wordes ant ec hire werkes. a1300Dame Siriz 274 Neren never penes beter biset. 1340Ayenb. 214 Me ssel alneway wel do and wel besette þane time ine guode workes. c1386Chaucer Prol. 279 This worthi man ful wel his witte bisette. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. ix. 195 Forto bisette so mich labour and coste aboute ymagis. c1560in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 207 Here ys thy penyworth of ware; Yf thou thynke hyt not wele besett, Gyf hyt another.
†7. To bestow, apportion, allot, transfer; spec. to bestow or give in marriage. Obs.
c1230Hali Meid. 9 The poure [wummon] þat beoð wacliche iȝeouen and biset uuele. c1325Chron. Eng. 492 in Ritson Met. Rom. II. 290 Thilke he delede on threo, Wel he bisette theo. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. cxii, Orgarus thought his doughter shold wel be maryed, and wel beset upon hym. 1494Fabyan i. iv. 11 He beset or apoynted to hym the Countre of Walys. 1599Bp. Hall Sat. iv. iii. 69 The beare his feirce-nesse to his brood besets.
†8. To set in order; arrange; ordain. Obs.
1413E.E. Wills (1882) 19, I, Richard Ȝonge, Brewer of London, be-set my testament in thys maner. 1494Fabyan vi. clxxx. 178 Than this noble prynce Edward, after thise thinges, be set hym in an ordre. c1500Blowbol's Test. in Halliw. Nugæ P. 3 Withoute tarying ye make your Testament, And by good avice alle thing well besett.
III. To become, suit. Cf. Sc. set, Fr. seoir.
†9. To become, look well on, befit, set off. Obs.
1567Drant Horace De Arte P. A iiij, Sad wordes beset a sorye face; thretynge, the visage grim. 1598R. Pollock On 1 Thess. (1616) 258 (Jam.) If thou be the childe of God, doe as besets thy estate—sleep not, but wake.
†b. intr. To go well or accord with. Obs.
1599Bp. Hall Sat. i. vi. 13 How handsomely besets Dull spondees with the English dactilets. |