Siege
Siege , noun
[Old English sege, Old French siege, French siège a seat, a siege; compare Italian seggia, seggio, zedio, a seat, asseggio, assedio, a siege, French assiéger to besiege, Italian & Late Latin assediare, Latin obsidium a siege, besieging; all ultimately from Latin sedere to sit. See Sit, and compare See, n.]
1.
A seat; especially, a royal seat; a throne. [Obsolete]
Upon the very siege of justice.
A stately siege of sovereign majesty,
And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay.
In our great hall there stood a vacant chair...
And Merlin called it “The siege perilous.”
2.
Hence, place or situation; seat. [Obsolete]
Ah! traitorous eyes, come out of your shameless siege forever.
3.
Rank; grade; station; estimation. [Obsolete]
I fetch my life and being
From men of royal siege.
4.
Passage of excrements; stool; fecal matter. [Obsolete]
The siege of this mooncalf.
5.
The sitting of an army around or before a fortified place for the purpose of compelling the garrison to surrender; the surrounding or investing of a place by an army, and approaching it by passages and advanced works, which cover the besiegers from the enemy's fire. See the Note under Blockade.
6.
Hence, a continued attempt to gain possession.
Love stood the siege, and would not yield his breast.
7.
The floor of a glass-furnace.
8.
A workman's bench. — Knught
Collocations (2)
Siege gun , a heavy gun for siege operations.
Siege train , artillery adapted for attacking fortified places.
Siege , transitive verb
To besiege; to beset. [Rare]
Through all the dangers that can siege
The life of man.