besiege
Americanverb (used with object)
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
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has besiegedperfect 3rd person singular
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have besiegedperfect
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have been besiegingperfect progressive
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is besiegingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am besiegingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been besiegingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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besiegessingular 3rd person
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are besiegingprogressive
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besiegingparticiple
Past
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had besiegedperfect
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were besiegingprogressive plural
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besiegedsimple
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had been besiegingperfect progressive
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was besiegingprogressive singular
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besiegedparticiple
Future
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.
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
Besiege him never so strictly, so long as the air is not cut from him, his heart faints not.
From Character Writings of the 17th Century by Various
He would scale heaven, and when he had ——got beyond the utmost sphere, Besiege the concave of this universe, And hunger-starve the gods till they confessed What furies did oppress his sleeping soul.
From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 2 by Disraeli, Isaac
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
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.
