Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Set \Set\ (s[e^]t), v. i.
   1. To pass below the horizon; to go down; to decline; to sink
      out of sight; to come to an end.

            Ere the weary sun set in the west.    --Shak.

            Thus this century sets with little mirth, and the
            next is likely to arise with more mourning.
                                                  --Fuller.

   2. To fit music to words. [Obs.] --Shak.

   3. To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant. ``To
      sow dry, and set wet.'' --Old Proverb.

   4. To be fixed for growth; to strike root; to begin to
      germinate or form; as, cuttings set well; the fruit has
      set well (i. e., not blasted in the blossom).

   5. To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened.

            A gathering and serring of the spirits together to
            resist, maketh the teeth to set hard one against
            another.                              --Bacon.

   6. To congeal; to concrete; to solidify.

            That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set.
                                                  --Boyle.

   7. To have a certain direction in motion; to flow; to move
      on; to tend; as, the current sets to the north; the tide
      sets to the windward.

   8. To begin to move; to go out or forth; to start; -- now
      followed by out.

            The king is set from London.          --Shak.

   9. To indicate the position of game; -- said of a dog; as,
      the dog sets well; also, to hunt game by the aid of a
      setter.

   10. To apply one's self; to undertake earnestly; -- now
       followed by out.

             If he sets industriously and sincerely to perform
             the commands of Christ, he can have no ground of
             doubting but it shall prove successful to him.
                                                  --Hammond.

   11. To fit or suit one; to sit; as, the coat sets well.

   Note: [Colloquially used, but improperly, for sit.]

   Note: The use of the verb set for sit in such expressions as,
         the hen is setting on thirteen eggs; a setting hen,
         etc., although colloquially common, and sometimes
         tolerated in serious writing, is not to be approved.

   {To set about}, to commence; to begin.

   {To set forward}, to move or march; to begin to march; to
      advance.

   {To set forth}, to begin a journey.

   {To set in}.
       (a) To begin; to enter upon a particular state; as,
           winter set in early.
       (b) To settle one's self; to become established. ``When
           the weather was set in to be very bad.'' --Addison.
       (c) To flow toward the shore; -- said of the tide.

   {To set off}.
       (a) To enter upon a journey; to start.
       (b) (Typog.) To deface or soil the next sheet; -- said of
           the ink on a freshly printed sheet, when another
           sheet comes in contact with it before it has had time
           to dry.

   {To set on} or {upon}.
       (a) To begin, as a journey or enterprise; to set about.

                 He that would seriously set upon the search of
                 truth.                           --Locke.
       (b) To assault; to make an attack. --Bacon.

                 Cassio hath here been set on in the dark.
                                                  --Shak.

   {To set out}, to begin a journey or course; as, to set out
      for London, or from London; to set out in business;to set
      out in life or the world.

   {To set to}, to apply one's self to.

   {To set up}.
       (a) To begin business or a scheme of life; as, to set up
           in trade; to set up for one's self.
       (b) To profess openly; to make pretensions.

                 Those men who set up for mortality without
                 regard to religion, are generally but virtuous
                 in part.                         --Swift.