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. [Colloquially
used, but improperly, for sit.]
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 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. Bacon.
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.
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Set (?), a. 1. Fixed in position; immovable; rigid; as, a set line; a
set countenance.