Set v. i.
 1. To pass below the horizon; to go down; to decline; to sink out of sight; to come to an end.
    Ere the weary sun set in the west.   --Shak.
    Thus this century sets with little mirth, and the next is likely to arise with more mourning.   --Fuller.
 2. To fit music to words. [Obs.]
 3. To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant. “To sow dry, and set wet.”
 4. To be fixed for growth; to strike root; to begin to germinate or form; as, cuttings set well; the fruit has set well (i. e., not blasted in the blossom).
 5. To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened.
    A gathering and serring of the spirits together to resist, maketh the teeth to set hard one against another.   --Bacon.
 6. To congeal; to concrete; to solidify; -- of cements, glues, gels, concrete, substances polymerizing into plastics, etc.
    That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set.   --Boyle.
 7. To have a certain direction in motion; to flow; to move on; to tend; as, the current sets to the north; the tide sets to the windward.
 8. To begin to move; to go out or forth; to start; -- now followed by out.
    The king is set from London.   --Shak.
 9. To indicate the position of game; -- said of a dog; as, the dog sets well; also, to hunt game by the aid of a setter.
 10. To apply one's self; to undertake earnestly; -- now followed by out.
    If he sets industriously and sincerely to perform the commands of Christ, he can have no ground of doubting but it shall prove successful to him.   --Hammond.
 11. To fit or suit one; to sit; as, the coat sets well.
 Note: [Colloquially used, but improperly, for sit.]
 Note: ☞ The use of the verb set for sit in such expressions as, the hen is setting on thirteen eggs; a setting hen, etc., although colloquially common, and sometimes tolerated in serious writing, is not to be approved.
 To set about, to commence; to begin.
 To set forward, to move or march; to begin to march; to advance.
 To set forth, to begin a journey.
 To set in. (a) To begin; to enter upon a particular state; as, winter set in early. (b) To settle one's self; to become established. “When the weather was set in to be very bad.” --Addison. (c) To flow toward the shore; -- said of the tide.
 To set off.  (a) To enter upon a journey; to start. (b) Typog. To deface or soil the next sheet; -- said of the ink on a freshly printed sheet, when another sheet comes in contact with it before it has had time to dry.
 To set on or To set upon. (a) To begin, as a journey or enterprise; to set about.
    He that would seriously set upon the search of truth.   --Locke.
 (b) To assault; to make an attack.
    Cassio hath here been set on in the dark.   --Shak.
 -- To set out, to begin a journey or course; as, to set out for London, or from London; to set out in business;to set out in life or the world.
 To set to, to apply one's self to.
 To set up. (a) To begin business or a scheme of life; as, to set up in trade; to set up for one's self. (b) To profess openly; to make pretensions.
    Those men who set up for mortality without regard to religion, are generally but virtuous in part.   --Swift.


 A·bout, adv.
 1. On all sides; around.
    'Tis time to look about.   --Shak.
 2. In circuit; circularly; by a circuitous way; around the outside; as, a mile about, and a third of a mile across.
 3. Here and there; around; in one place and another.
    Wandering about from house to house.   --1 Tim. v. 13.
 4. Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence, in quality, manner, degree, etc.; as, about as cold; about as high; -- also of quantity, number, time. “There fell . . . about three thousand men.”
 5. To a reserved position; half round; in the opposite direction; on the opposite tack; as, to face about; to turn one's self about.
 To bring about, to cause to take place; to accomplish.
 To come about, to occur; to take place. See under Come.
 To go about, To set about, to undertake; to arrange; to prepare. “Shall we set about some revels?” --Shak.
 Round about, in every direction around.

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