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Set about   /sɛt əbˈaʊt/   Listen
verb
Set  v. i.  (past & past part. set; pres. part. setting)  
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." "Thus this century sets with little mirth, and the next is likely to arise with more mourning."
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."
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."
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."
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."
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."
(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."
(b)
To assault; to make an attack. "Cassio hath here been set on in the dark."
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."


adverb
About  adv.  
1.
On all sides; around. "'Tis time to look about."
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."
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?"
Round about, in every direction around.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Set about" Quotes from Famous Books



... By this time, public excitement had gone beyond fever heat and reached the boiling point. Everybody wanted stock. The number of shares subscribed were to be apportioned, if the limit of the capital should be exceeded; and every one set about obtaining proxies. Parents subscribed in the names of their children, and paid the dollar on each share that the rules prescribed. Before even a survey had been made, the possession of stock in any quantity was regarded as a provision for old age; and great ...
— Peter Cooper - The Riverside Biographical Series, Number 4 • Rossiter W. Raymond
... starts with an explanatory "spoken" to the effect that the song he is about to sing illustrates some of the little ways of woman, and how, no matter what you say or do, she is bound to have her own way in the end; also how, in one instance, she set about getting it. ...
— On the Track • Henry Lawson
... They set about the search, but found nobody, and George stopped outside the last building with a ...
— Ranching for Sylvia • Harold Bindloss
... very much as though he had been hailing the "main-top," whereupon the Sergeant emerged from between the clothes-press and the dresser with a black bottle in his hand, which he passed over to Peterday who set about brewing what he called a "jorum o' grog," the savour of which filled the place with a right pleasant fragrance. And, when the glasses brimmed, each with a slice of ...
— The Money Moon - A Romance • Jeffery Farnol
... resinous tears on the doors and windows. It seemed to me that boarding there must seem like a perpetual picnic. As I entered the door, a number of the regular boarders rushed out of a long room, and set about trying to get the taste of something out of their mouths, by the application of tobacco in various forms. A few immediately ranged themselves around the fireplace, with their legs over each other's chairs, and in that position silently resigned themselves ...
— The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales • Bret Harte


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