siege

[ seej ]
See synonyms for: siegesiegedsieging on Thesaurus.com

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.

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

  2. a prolonged period of trouble or annoyance.

  3. Also sedge. Ornithology.

    • a flock of herons.

    • the station of a heron at prey.

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

  5. Obsolete.

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

    • station as to rank or class.

verb (used with object),sieged, sieg·ing.
  1. to assail or assault; besiege.

Idioms about siege

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

Origin of siege

1
First recorded in 1175–1225; (noun) Middle English sege, from Old French: “seat,” noun derivative of siegier, from unattested Vulgar Latin sedicāre “to set,” derivative of Latin sedēre “to sit” (see sit1); (verb) Middle English segen, derivative of the noun

synonym study For siege

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.

Other words from siege

  • siege·a·ble, adjective
  • un·sieged, adjective

Words Nearby siege

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use siege in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for siege

siege

/ (siːdʒ) /


noun
    • the offensive operations carried out to capture a fortified place by surrounding it, severing its communications and supply lines, and deploying weapons against it

    • (as modifier): siege warfare

  1. a persistent attempt to gain something

  1. a long tedious period, as of illness, etc

  2. obsolete a seat or throne

  3. lay siege to to besiege

verb
  1. (tr) to besiege or assail

Origin of siege

1
C13: from Old French sege a seat, from Vulgar Latin sēdicāre (unattested) to sit down, from Latin sedēre

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012