See Also: Siege(medicine)
siege(dictionary)
siege(dictionary)
Leningrad, Siege of(encyclopedia)
Mafikeng, Siege of(encyclopedia)
Siege (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Vienna, Siege of(encyclopedia)
Yorktown, Siege of(encyclopedia)
Zara, Siege of(encyclopedia)
Toulon, Siege of(encyclopedia)

siege (iou)



siege noun & verb. ME.
[Old French sege (mod. siege), formed as ASSIEGE.]
A. noun.
I.
a. A chair, a seat, esp. one used by a person of rank or distinction. ME-E17.
the Siege Perilous the vacant seat at King Arthur's Round Table, occupied with impunity only by the Knight destined to achieve the Grail.
b. A bench; now esp. a mason's workbench. Chiefly Scot. M16.
a. An ecclesiastical see. ME-L16.
b. A person's place of residence; a station, a position; a royal or imperial seat. LME-M17.
c. The place in which something is set, or on which a ship lies. rare. LME-E16.
d. Orig. a heron's position while watching for prey. Later, a group of herons. LME.
a. A privy, a lavatory. LME-M16.
b. (An act of) defecation; faeces. LME-E18.
The anus; the rectum. M16-L17.
II.
The action or an act of surrounding a town, building, etc., with a hostile (esp. military) force in order to cut off all outside communication and supplies and so facilitate capture. Also, the period during which this action lasts. ME.
J. A. Michener Capturing the well outside the wall and mounting siege until the internal cisterns were empty. N. Monsarrat Bringing food and weapons to an island under siege.
b. transf. A prolonged and determined attack; US a long period of illness or difficulty. E17.
Dryden Love stood the siege, and would not yield his breast. R. Chandler She is weakened by a long siege of bronchitis. Reader's Digest The three-pin, British electric plug is under siege from its two-pin cousin, the Europlug.
Phrases: lay siege to: see LAY verb1. raise the siege of abandon or cause the abandonment of an attempt to take (a place) by siege.
Comb.: siege economy: in which import controls are imposed and the export of capital is curtailed; siege gun Hist. a heavy gun used to lay siege to a town etc.; siege mentality a defensive or paranoid attitude based on an assumption of hostility in others; siege-piece Hist. An imperfectly made coin struck and issued during a siege; siege-train artillery and other equipment for a siege, together with troops and transport vehicles.
b. verb trans. Besiege, lay siege to. ME.
sieger noun (now rare or obsolete) a person who takes part in a siege LME.