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lay siege to

 - 2 dictionary results

siege

  [seej] noun, verb, sieged, sieg⋅ing.
Use lay siege to in a Sentence
–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.
5. 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.
7. 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 sedēre to sit 1 ; (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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To lay siege to
Word Origin & History

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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