sett

American  

[set] / sɛt /

noun

1. Also called pitcher.  a small, rectangular paving stone.

2. Also called stake.  a handheld tool that is struck by a hammer to shape or deform a metal object.

3. Also the distinctively colored pattern of crisscrossed lines and stripes against a background in which a Scottish tartan is woven.

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sett British  

/ sɛt /

noun

1. a small rectangular paving block made of stone, such as granite, used to provide a durable road surface Compare cobblestone

2. the burrow of a badger

3. 1. a square in a pattern of tartan

   2. the pattern itself

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Etymology

Origin of sett

First recorded in 1870–75; variant of set

Example Sentences

Stubborn badgers are refusing to move from their clifftop sett, which is causing damage to roads and pavements in a seaside town, a council said.

From BBC • Feb. 13, 2023

"They were blocking one of the entrances to the sett, yet it doesn't look like the badgers have shown any interest in them," she said.

From BBC • May 20, 2022

They have footage, she said, of a badger climbing a fence to get back to its old sett.

From The Guardian • Dec. 21, 2017

He dug an underground badger lair, or sett, sleeping there during the day and venturing out, on all fours, at night.

From The New Yorker • May 23, 2016

He went ambling down the corridors of the enchanted sett, rolling from leg to leg with the queer badger paddle, his white mask with its black stripes looking ghostly in the gloom.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White