to set about
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
1.To pass below the horizon; to go down; to decline; to sink out of sight; to come to an end. [1913 Webster]
Ere the weary sun set in the west.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
Thus this century sets with little mirth, and the next is likely to arise with more mourning.— Fuller.[1913 Webster]
2.To fit music to words. [Obs.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]
3.To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant. "To sow dry, and set wet." --Old Proverb. [1913 Webster]
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). [1913 Webster]
5.To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened. [1913 Webster]
A gathering and serring of the spirits together to resist, maketh the teeth to set hard one against another.— Bacon.[1913 Webster]
6.To congeal; to concrete; to solidify; -- of cements, glues, gels, concrete, substances polymerizing into plastics, etc. [1913 Webster +PJC]
That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set.— Boyle.[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
8.To begin to move; to go out or forth; to start; -- now followed by out. [1913 Webster]
The king is set from London.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
10.To apply one's self; to undertake earnestly; -- now followed by out. [1913 Webster]
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.[1913 Webster]
11.To fit or suit one; to sit; as, the coat sets well.
Note: [Colloquially used, but improperly, for sit.] [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
He that would seriously set upon the search of truth. --Locke. [1913 Webster] (b) To assault; to make an attack.— Bacon.[1913 Webster]
Cassio hath here been set on in the dark.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
Those men who set up for mortality without regard to religion, are generally but virtuous in part.— Swift.[1913 Webster]
1.On all sides; around. [1913 Webster]
'Tis time to look about.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
2.In circuit; circularly; by a circuitous way; around the outside; as, a mile about, and a third of a mile across. [1913 Webster]
3.Here and there; around; in one place and another. [1913 Webster]
Wandering about from house to house.— 1 Tim. v. 13.[1913 Webster]
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." --Exod. xxii. 28. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]