siege

American  

[seej] / sidʒ /

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.

3. a series of illnesses, troubles, or annoyances besetting a person or group.

   a siege of head colds.

4. a prolonged period of trouble or annoyance.

5. Ornithology. Also

   1. a flock of herons.

   2. the station of a heron at prey.

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

7. Obsolete.

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

   2. station as to rank or class.

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verb (used with object)

sieged, sieging

1. to assail or assault; besiege.

idioms

1. lay siege to, to besiege.

   The army laid siege to the city for over a month.

siege British  

/ siːdʒ /

noun

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

   2. ( as modifier )

      siege warfare

2. a persistent attempt to gain something

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

4. obsolete a seat or throne

5. to besiege

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verb

1. (tr) to besiege or assail

Related Words

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 Word Forms

• siegeable adjective
• unsieged adjective

Etymology

Origin of siege

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” ( sit ¹ ); (verb) Middle English segen, derivative of the noun

Example Sentences

The siege mentality of these gated communities exacted an immense human toll on employees, struggling for essentials like water or electricity.

From MarketWatch

Lens did not benefit from the one-man advantage until the start of the second half when they laid siege to the Toulouse goal.

From Barron's

Big food companies are under siege, buffeted in recent years by heightened scrutiny of processed foods, consumer anger over soaring grocery bills and the growing popularity of weight-loss drugs.

From The Wall Street Journal

The result is that one of Ukraine’s largest and most vibrant cities is under a form of siege.

From The Wall Street Journal

Under the pressure of enormous change, bildung now came to mean “a precarious heritage under siege by rival nationalists.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• barricade
• closure
• encirclement
• restriction
• roadblock
• stoppage