set

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   get ready for a particular purpose or event

   set up an experiment

2. 2
   verb

   fix conclusively or authoritatively

   set the rules

3. 3
   verb

   establish as the highest level or best performance

   set a record

4. 4
   verb

   fix in a border

   The goldsmith set the diamond

5. 5
   verb

   put into a position that will restore a normal state

   set a broken bone

6. 6
   verb

   apply or start

   set fire to a building

7. 7
   verb

   adapt for performance in a different way

   set this poem to music

8. 8
   verb

   locate

   The film is set in Africa

Etymology

From Middle English set, sete, sette (“that which is set, the act of setting, seat”), from Old English set (“setting, seat, a place where people remain, habitation, camp, entrenchment, a place where animals are kept, stall, fold”) and Old English seten (“a set, shoot, slip, branch; a nursery, plantation; that which is planted or set; a cultivated place; planting, cultivation; a setting, putting; a stopping; occupied land”), related to Old English settan (“to set”). Compare Middle Low German gesette (“a set, suite”), Old English gesetl (“assembly”). According to Skeat, in senses denoting a grou…