verb
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to surround (a fortified area, esp a city) with military forces to bring about its surrender
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to crowd round; hem in
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to overwhelm, as with requests or queries
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of besiege
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English bysegen; see be-, siege
Explanation
To besiege means to attack with an army, or to pester with many requests. When all your teachers ask you to hand in assignments on the same day, you can end up feeling besieged. The source of the word besiege in its military sense is the Latin word for "seat." When an army settles down in front of a fort or other site of attack, they are besieging it or taking a seat there. Picture them continually bombarding the fortress with arrows and cannon shot, and you've got the picture of the figurative sense of the word, "to pester with requests, etc." If you get a lot of spam in your e-mail, you are besieged with advertisements — and maybe also besieged with worries that you'll get a virus!
Vocabulary lists containing besiege
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Grade 9, List 1
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"What is to hinder you from starving them into surrender?" signifies Friedrich, hastily: "Besiege me Stralsund!"
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 18 by Carlyle, Thomas
Besiege the throne of grace, dear Egerton, in my behalf.
From The Story of My Life Being Reminiscences of Sixty Years' Public Service in Canada by Hodgins, J. George (John George)
King Ferdinand prepared to Besiege the City of Baza, and how the City prepared for Defence.
From Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada by Irving, Washington
Besiege, be-sēj′, v.t. to lay siege to: to beset with armed forces: to throng round.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
When I arriv'd there, I found they had surrounded Mentz in order to Besiege it.
From Memoirs of Major Alexander Ramkins (1718) by Defoe, Daniel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
