besiege
verb (used with object)
to lay siege to.
had been besieging
-
past perfect progressiveof besiege.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
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.
By the time Allied forces made landfall at Normandy, Soviet forces had been besieging Berlin for more than six months.
From Fox News ● Jun. 6, 2019
This not only gained for the Russians a large booty in prisoners, munitions, and equipment, but also released the great army that had been besieging the fortress.
From The Story of the Great War, Volume IV (of 8) Champagne, Artois, Grodno; Fall of Nish; Caucasus; Mesopotamia; Development of Air Strategy; United States and the War by Francis Trevelyan Miller
Twice she came in from a walk pale and inexplicably excited, and he knew she had been besieging the scornful lady in the other house.
From Rose MacLeod by Alice Brown
The next great exploit of Suwarrow was performed at Ismail, a Turkish town which Potemkin had been besieging for seven months.
From Historic Tales, Vol. 8 (of 15) The Romance of Reality by Charles Morris
He arranged with Magdeburg, which he had been besieging, to make it a place of refuge if there should be need of an asylum.
From Outline of Universal History by George Park Fisher
