Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

      (a) To put in order in a particular manner; to prepare;
          as, to set (that is, to hone) a razor; to set a saw.

                Tables for to sette, and beddes make. --Chaucer.
      (b) To extend and bring into position; to spread; as, to
          set the sails of a ship.
      (c) To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the
          keynote; as, to set a psalm. --Fielding.
      (d) To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state; to
          replace; as, to set a broken bone.
      (e) To make to agree with some standard; as, to set a
          watch or a clock.
      (f) (Masonry) To lower into place and fix solidly, as the
          blocks of cut stone in a structure.

   6. To stake at play; to wager; to risk.

            I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the
            hazard of the die.                    --Shak.

   7. To fit with music; to adapt, as words to notes; to prepare
      for singing.

            Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute.
                                                  --Dryden.

   8. To determine; to appoint; to assign; to fix; as, to set a
      time for a meeting; to set a price on a horse.

   9. To adorn with something infixed or affixed; to stud; to
      variegate with objects placed here and there.

            High on their heads, with jewels richly set, Each
            lady wore a radiant coronet.          --Dryden.

            Pastoral dales thin set with modern farms.
                                                  --Wordsworth.

   10. To value; to rate; -- with at.

             Be you contented, wearing now the garland, To have
             a son set your decrees at naught.    --Shak.

             I do not set my life at a pin's fee. --Shak.

   11. To point out the seat or position of, as birds, or other
       game; -- said of hunting dogs.

   12. To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to
       assign; as, to set an example; to set lessons to be
       learned.

   13. To suit; to become; as, it sets him ill. [Scot.]

   14. (Print.) To compose; to arrange in words, lines, etc.;
       as, to set type; to set a page.

   {To set abroach}. See {Abroach}. [Obs.] --Shak.

   {To set against}, to oppose; to set in comparison with, or to
      oppose to, as an equivalent in exchange; as, to set one
      thing against another.

   {To set agoing}, to cause to move.

   {To set apart}, to separate to a particular use; to separate
      from the rest; to reserve.

   {To set a saw}, to bend each tooth a little, every alternate
      one being bent to one side, and the intermediate ones to
      the other side, so that the opening made by the saw may be
      a little wider than the thickness of the back, to prevent
      the saw from sticking.

   {To set aside}.
       (a) To leave out of account; to pass by; to omit; to
           neglect; to reject; to annul.

                 Setting aside all other considerations, I will
                 endeavor to know the truth, and yield to that.
                                                  --Tillotson.
       (b) To set apart; to reserve; as, to set aside part of
           one's income.
       (c) (Law) See under {Aside}.

   {To set at defiance}, to defy.

   {To set at ease}, to quiet; to tranquilize; as, to set the
      heart at ease.

   {To set at naught}, to undervalue; to contemn; to despise.
      ``Ye have set at naught all my counsel.'' --Prov. i. 25.
      

   {To set a} {trap, snare, or gin}, to put it in a proper
      condition or position to catch prey; hence, to lay a plan
      to deceive and draw another into one's power.

   {To set at work}, or {To set to work}.
       (a) To cause to enter on work or action, or to direct how
           tu enter on work.
       (b) To apply one's self; -- used reflexively.

   {To set before}.
       (a) To bring out to view before; to exhibit.
       (b) To propose for choice to; to offer to.

   {To set by}.
       (a) To set apart or on one side; to reject.
       (b) To attach the value of (anything) to. ``I set not a
           straw by thy dreamings.'' --Chaucer.

   {To set by the compass}, to observe and note the bearing or
      situation of by the compass.

   {To set case}, to suppose; to assume. Cf. {Put case}, under
      {Put}, v. t. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

   {To set down}.
       (a) To enter in writing; to register.

                 Some rules were to be set down for the
                 government of the army.          --Clarendon.
       (b) To fix; to establish; to ordain.

                 This law we may name eternal, being that order
                 which God . . . hath set down with himself, for
                 himself to do all things by.     --Hooker.
       (c) To humiliate.

   {To set eyes on}, to see; to behold; to fasten the eyes on.
      

   {To set fire to}, or {To set on fire}, to communicate fire
      to; fig., to inflame; to enkindle the passions of; to
      irritate.

   {To set flying} (Naut.), to hook to halyards, sheets, etc.,
      instead of extending with rings or the like on a stay; --
      said of a sail.

   {To set forth}.
       (a) To manifest; to offer or present to view; to exhibt;
           to display.
       (b) To publish; to promulgate; to make appear. --Waller.
       (c) To send out; to prepare and send. [Obs.]

                 The Venetian admiral had a fleet of sixty
                 galleys, set forth by the Venetians. --Knolles.

   {To set forward}.
       (a) To cause to advance.
       (b) To promote.

   {To set free}, to release from confinement, imprisonment, or
      bondage; to liberate; to emancipate.

   {To set in}, to put in the way; to begin; to give a start to.
      [Obs.]

            If you please to assist and set me in, I will
            recollect myself.                     --Collier.

   {To set in order}, to adjust or arrange; to reduce to method.
      ``The rest will I set in order when I come.'' --1 Cor. xi.
      34.

   {To set milk}.
       (a) To expose it in open dishes in order that the cream
           may rise to the surface.
       (b) To cause it to become curdled as by the action of
           rennet. See 4
       (e) .

   {To set} {much, or little}, {by}, to care much, or little,
      for.

   {To set of}, to value; to set by. [Obs.] ``I set not an haw
      of his proverbs.'' --Chaucer.

   {To set off}.
       (a) To separate from a whole; to assign to a particular
           purpose; to portion off; as, to set off a portion of
           an estate.
       (b) To adorn; to decorate; to embellish.

                 They . . . set off the worst faces with the
                 best airs.                       --Addison.
       (c) To give a flattering description of.

   {To set off against}, to place against as an equivalent; as,
      to set off one man's services against another's.

   {To set} {on or upon}.
       (a) To incite; to instigate. ``Thou, traitor, hast set on
           thy wife to this.'' --Shak.
       (b) To employ, as in a task. `` Set on thy wife to
           observe.'' --Shak.
       (c) To fix upon; to attach strongly to; as, to set one's
           heart or affections on some object. See definition 2,
           above.

   {To set one's cap for}. See under {Cap}, n.

   {To set one's self against}, to place one's self in a state
      of enmity or opposition to.

   {To set one's teeth}, to press them together tightly.

   {To set on foot}, to set going; to put in motion; to start.
      

   {To set out}.
       (a) To assign; to allot; to mark off; to limit; as, to
           set out the share of each proprietor or heir of an
           estate; to set out the widow's thirds.
       (b) To publish, as a proclamation. [Obs.]
       (c) To adorn; to embellish.

                 An ugly woman, in rich habit set out with
                 jewels, nothing can become.      --Dryden.
       (d) To raise, equip, and send forth; to furnish. [R.]

                 The Venetians pretend they could set out, in
                 case of great necessity, thirty men-of-war.
                                                  --Addison.
       (e) To show; to display; to recommend; to set off.

                 I could set out that best side of Luther.
                                                  --Atterbury.
       (f) To show; to prove. [R.] ``Those very reasons set out
           how heinous his sin was.'' --Atterbury.
       (g) (Law) To recite; to state at large.

By \By\ (b[imac]), prep. [OE. bi, AS. b[=i], big, near to, by,
   of, from, after, according to; akin to OS. & OFries. bi, be,
   D. bij, OHG. b[=i], G. bei, Goth. bi, and perh. Gr. 'amfi`.
   E. prefix be- is orig. the same word. [root]203. See pref.
   {Be-}.]
   1. In the neighborhood of; near or next to; not far from;
      close to; along with; as, come and sit by me. [1913
      Webster]

            By foundation or by shady rivulet He sought them
            both.                                 --Milton.

   2. On; along; in traversing. Compare 5.

            Long labors both by sea and land he bore. --Dryden.

            By land, by water, they renew the charge. --Pope.

   3. Near to, while passing; hence, from one to the other side
      of; past; as, to go by a church.

   4. Used in specifying adjacent dimensions; as, a cabin twenty
      feet by forty.

   5. Against. [Obs.] --Tyndale [1. Cor. iv. 4].

   6. With, as means, way, process, etc.; through means of; with
      aid of; through; through the act or agency of; as, a city
      is destroyed by fire; profit is made by commerce; to take
      by force.

   Note: To the meaning of by, as denoting means or agency,
         belong, more or less closely, most of the following
         uses of the word:
      (a) It points out the author and producer; as,
          ``Waverley'', a novel by Sir W.Scott; a statue by
          Canova; a sonata by Beethoven.
      (b) In an oath or adjuration, it indicates the being or
          thing appealed to as sanction; as, I affirm to you by
          all that is sacred; he swears by his faith as a
          Christian; no, by Heaven.
      (c) According to; by direction, authority, or example of;
          after; -- in such phrases as, it appears by his
          account; ten o'clock by my watch; to live by rule; a
          model to build by.
      (d) At the rate of; according to the ratio or proportion
          of; in the measure or quantity of; as, to sell cloth
          by the yard, milk by the quart, eggs by the dozen,
          meat by the pound; to board by the year.
      (e) In comparison, it denotes the measure of excess or
          deficiency; when anything is increased or diminished,
          it indicates the measure of increase or diminution;
          as, larger by a half; older by five years; to lessen
          by a third.
      (f) It expresses continuance or duration; during the
          course of; within the period of; as, by day, by night.
      (g) As soon as; not later than; near or at; -- used in
          expressions of time; as, by this time the sun had
          risen; he will be here by two o'clock.

   Note: In boxing the compass, by indicates a pint nearer to,
         or towards, the next cardinal point; as, north by east,
         i.e., a point towards the east from the north;
         northeast by east, i.e., on point nearer the east than
         northeast is.

   Note: With is used instead of by before the instrument with
         which anything is done; as, to beat one with a stick;
         the board was fastened by the carpenter with nails. But
         there are many words which may be regarded as means or
         processes, or, figuratively, as instruments; and
         whether with or by shall be used with them is a matter
         of arbitrary, and often, of unsettled usage; as, to a
         reduce a town by famine; to consume stubble with fire;
         he gained his purpose by flattery; he entertained them
         with a story; he distressed us with or by a recital of
         his sufferings. see {With}.

   {By all means}, most assuredly; without fail; certainly.

   {By and by}.
      (a) Close together (of place). [Obs.] ``Two yonge knightes
          liggyng [lying] by and by.'' --Chaucer.
      (b) Immediately; at once. [Obs.] ``When . . . persecution
          ariseth because of the word, by and by he is
          offended.'' --Matt. xiii. 21.
      (c) Presently; pretty soon; before long.

   Note: In this phrase, by seems to be used in the sense of
         nearness in time, and to be repeated for the sake of
         emphasis, and thus to be equivalent to ``soon, and
         soon,'' that is instantly; hence, -- less emphatically,
         -- pretty soon, presently.

   {By one's self}, with only one's self near; alone; solitary.

   {By the bye}. See under {Bye}.

   {By the head} (Naut.), having the bows lower than the stern;
      -- said of a vessel when her head is lower in the water
      than her stern. If her stern is lower, she is by the
      stern.

   {By the lee}, the situation of a vessel, going free, when she
      has fallen off so much as to bring the wind round her
      stern, and to take her sails aback on the other side.

   {By the run}, to let go by the run, to let go altogether,
      instead of slacking off.

   {By the way}, by the bye; -- used to introduce an incidental
      or secondary remark or subject. 

   {Day by day}, {One by one}, {Piece by piece}, etc., each day,
      each one, each piece, etc., by itself singly or
      separately; each severally.

   {To come by}, to get possession of; to obtain.

   {To do by}, to treat, to behave toward.

   {To set by}, to value, to esteem.

   {To stand by}, to aid, to support.

   Note: The common phrase good-by is equivalent to farewell,
         and would be better written good-bye, as it is a
         corruption of God be with you (b'w'ye).