Siege - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

siege

Audio Help [seej] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, sieged, sieg·ing.

–noun

1.	the act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the defenders and thereby making capture possible.

2.	any prolonged or persistent effort to overcome resistance.

3.	a series of illnesses, troubles, or annoyances besetting a person or group: a siege of head colds.

4.	a prolonged period of trouble or annoyance.

Also, sedge. Ornithology.

a.	a flock of herons.

b.	the station of a heron at prey.

6.	the shelf or floor of a glassmaking furnace on which the glass pots are set.

Obsolete.

a.	a seat, esp. one used by a person of distinction, as a throne.

b.	station as to rank or class.

–verb (used with object)

8.	to assail or assault; besiege.

—Idiom

9.	lay siege to, to besiege: The army laid siege to the city for over a month.

[Origin: 1175–1225; (n.) ME sege < OF: seat, n. deriv. of siegier < VL *sedicāre to set, deriv. of L sedére to sit¹; (v.) ME segen, deriv. of the n.

]

—Related forms

siege·a·ble, adjective

—Synonyms 1. Siege, blockade are terms for prevention of free movement to or from a place during wartime. Siege implies surrounding a city and cutting off its communications, and usually includes direct assaults on its defenses. Blockade is applied more often to naval operations that block all commerce, especially to cut off food and other supplies from defenders.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Siege

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

siege Audio Help (sēj) Pronunciation Key
n.

The surrounding and blockading of a city, town, or fortress by an army attempting to capture it.
A prolonged period, as of illness: a siege of asthma.
Obsolete A seat, especially a throne.

tr.v. sieged, sieg·ing, sieg·es
To subject to a siege; besiege. See Synonyms at besiege.

[Middle English sege, from Old French, seat, from Vulgar Latin *sedicum, from *sedicāre, to sit, from Latin sedēre; see sed- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
siege

c.1225, "a seat" (as in Siege Perilous, the vacant seat at Arthur's Round Table, to be occupied safely only by the knight destined to find the Holy Grail, c.1230), from O.Fr. sege "seat, throne," from V.L. *sedicum "seat," from L. sedere "sit" (see sedentary). The military sense is attested from c.1300; the notion is of an army "sitting down" before a fortress.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

siege
noun
the action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place and isolates it while continuing to attack

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
siege [siːdʒ] noun

an attempt to capture a fort or town by keeping it surrounded by an armed force until it surrenders
Example: The town is under siege.

Arabic:	حِصار، مُحاصَرَه
Chinese (Simplified):	围攻, 包围
Chinese (Traditional):	圍攻, 包圍
Czech:	obležení
Danish:	belejring
Dutch:	beleg
Estonian:	piiramine
Finnish:	piiritys
French:	siège
German:	die Belagerung
Greek:	πολιορκία
Hungarian:	ostrom
Icelandic:	umsátur
Indonesian:	pengepungan
Italian:	assedio

Japanese:	包囲攻撃
Korean:	포위
Latvian:	aplenkums
Lithuanian:	apgultis
Norwegian:	beleiring
Polish:	oblężenie
Portuguese (Brazil):	cerco
Portuguese (Portugal):	cerco
Romanian:	asediu
Russian:	осада
Slovak:	obliehanie
Slovenian:	obleganje
Spanish:	cerco, sitio
Swedish:	belägring
Turkish:	kuşatma

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Siege

As*siege"\, v. t. [OE. asegen, OF. asegier, F. assi['e]ger, fr. LL. assediare, assidiare, to besiege. See Siege.] To besiege. [Obs.] "Assieged castles." --Spenser.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Siege

Be*siege"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Besieged; p. pr. & vb. n. Besieging.] [OE. bisegen; pref. be- + segen to siege. See Siege.] To beset or surround with armed forces, for the purpose of compelling to surrender; to lay siege to; to beleaguer; to beset.

Till Paris was besieged, famished, and lost. --Shak.

Syn: To environ; hem in; invest; encompass.

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