| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| beset |
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| SYLLABICATION: | be·set |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  b -s t |
| TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: be·set, be·set·ting, be·sets
1. To attack from all sides. 2. To trouble persistently; harass. See synonyms at attack. 3. To hem in; surround: “the mountains which beset it round” (Nathaniel Hawthorne). 4. To stud, as with jewels. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English bisetten, from Old English besettan. See sed- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | be·setment —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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