c1386 G. Chaucer Clerk's Tale 718 At day set he on his way is goon.

1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 257 Riht evene upon the Sonne set.

a1400–50 Wars Alex. 2045 And so to sett of þe son sesid þai neuire.

1592 S. Daniel Complaint Rosamond in Wks. (1717) 39 This fair Morning had a shameful Set.

1594 M. Drayton Ideas Mirrour sig. H Till mee, if euer since the world begunne, So faire a Morning had so foule a set?

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iv. i. 269 But [the King] like a Lacquey, from the Rise to Set, Sweates in the eye of Phebus. View more context for this quotation

a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) i. i. 5 That will be ere the set of Sunne. View more context for this quotation

1618 G. Chapman tr. Hesiod Georgicks ii. 366 The Seuen-stars, and the Fiue, That twixt the Bulls hornes, at their set arriue.

1655 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa IV. ii. vii. 704 The Sun was five hours from his Set.

1724 A. Ramsay Vision in Ever Green I. xvii Frae the sun's rysing to his sett.

1812 H. F. Cary tr. Dante Purgatorio xviii. 80 When they of Rome behold him [the sun] at his set Betwixt Sardinia and the Corsic isle.

1834 A. E. Bray Warleigh III. vi. 74 The sun had already made a ‘fiery set’.

1845 C. Sumner True Grandeur Nations (1846) 13 Between the rise and set of a single sun.

1623 W. Lisle in tr. Ælfric Saxon Treat. Old & New Test. Ded. xv Thou..shalt..Extend thy fame fro Set to Spring of day.

1830 Ld. Tennyson Adeline in Poems 70 Looking at the set of day.

1868 J. T. Nettleship Ess. Browning's Poetry v. 127 At set of day.

1885 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche i. xxiii. 10 Looked left and right to rise and set of day.

1635 A. Stafford Femall Glory 13 Anna..being then in the occident, or set of life.

1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 6 Yet can they never deny but that admired serenity had its set in a cloud.

1439 in J. D. Marwick Charters Edinb. (1871) 64 Sindry alde charteris, takis, and settis of feefedorme made to thaim.

1471 in T. Thomson Acts Lords Auditors (1839) 14/2 Þat he sall haue na dale nor entrometing þarwith..without þt he optene tak & set þarof.

1476 in T. Thomson Acts Lords Auditors (1839) 41/1 Dauid allegiand at þe said landis of logycarroch belangit him be Resone of Sete.

1583 Exch. Rolls Scot. XXI. 564 Thair was ane set maid of the kingis majesties landis.

a1614 J. Melville Autobiogr. & Diary (1842) 11 Be whome they might gett a new sett and possessioun of thay teind fisches.

a1639 J. Spottiswood Hist. Church Scotl. (1655) 452 He should not delapidate his Benefice..nor make any set, or disposition thereof.

1886 Act 49 & 50 Vict. c. 50 §3 ‘Lease’ [in this Act] shall include tack and set.]

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage iii. iv. 211 Our Gull-gallants..who would sometimes be at a sette in their braue and brauing phrases, if they should not haue varietie of oathes and curses.

1642 D. Rogers Naaman 87 He is at a set, and knows not what to make of it.

c1680 Mem. Mrs. Veitch, etc. (1846) 26 (E.D.D.) They were both against it, which gave my faith a sore set.

1751 R. Paltock Life Peter Wilkins I. xii. 118 It rose so steep..that I was at a Set upon the first Entrance.

1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess i. 64 I cud na tald you, nor can I do yet, How sad the sett was, that my heart did get.

1778 A. Ross Helenore (ed. 2) 49 Great may the hardships be, that she has met, And gotten for my sake so hard a set.

1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 180/2 A ‘rub’ or ‘set’ is when a jack or bowl, in transitu, comes in contact with any object on the green.

1764 K. Fitzgerald in Philos. Trans. 1763 (Royal Soc.) 53 156 The stop, or sett, generally in large engines, when the ends of the leaver come to the springs, is a defect that has been endeavoured to be remedied.

1829 Examiner 609/1 ‘A set’ is made upon him of the most inveterate and splenetic character.

1850 J. Chubb On Constr. Locks & Keys 17 When ‘a set’ is made at a bank, every information is..sought for, by the burglars.

1857 A. Mathews Tea-table Talk I. 136 On one occasion, at a noble table, a great set was made at him.

1857 A. Mayhew Paved with Gold ii. x A direct set upon Phil was made by the satirical young rogues.

1887 W. E. Norris Major & Minor xxiii No one could say that Miss N. was making a set at him.

1903 ‘T. Collins’ Such is Life i. 15 ‘Has n't Warrigal Alf got a set on you too?’ asked Thompson coldly.

1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 64 Set, a grudge against (someone), e.g., ‘have a set on someone’.

1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xiv. 228 If the Old Man hadn't tried to give Mark Thorne such particular hell when he was starting his shop, perhaps Thorne wouldn't have taken a set on all the Sudermans... If he hadn't the set on the Sudermans..he wouldn't have wanted to cut off his nose to spite his face.

1948 D. Ballantyne Cunninghams ii. vi. 187 He had a bit of a set on Frank and Sydney and was always pinching their cheeks and telling them they were young roughnecks.

1837 J. T. Smith tr. L. J. Vicat Pract. & Sci. Treat. Mortars & Cements 53 The ‘time of set’ may sometimes transgress the prescribed limits.

1839 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 2 69/1 Before the cement was perfectly hardened and had taken a set.

1923 Rep. Progr. Appl. Chem. VIII. 231 The time of set has been found to depend upon the proportion of combined water..in the hydrated calcium aluminate.

1923 Rep. Progr. Appl. Chem. VIII. 23 Removal of water..results in the time of set being reduced.

1957 V. J. Kehoe Technique Film & Television Make-up xii. 149 Warm weather hastens the set of the material, so chilling the bowl is advisable to slow down the set.

1963 D. Seton Essent. Mod. Cookery 156 The use of lemon juice or citric or tartaric acid is essential to ensure a good set [in marmalade].

1891 T. Potter Concrete (ed. 2) I. iii. 104 If a plasterer finds his mortar for stucco is becoming too stiff..the initial set has commenced.

1927 Engineer 5 Aug. 143/2 At the completion of the operation the concrete has taken an initial set.

1953 Van den Branden & Knowles Plastering iv. 98 The initial set of Portland cement mortar occurs about two to three hours after the dry materials have been wetted.

1725 New Canting Dict. Set, as Dead Set, a Term used by Thief-catchers when they have a Certainty of seizing some of their Clients.

1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Set, a dead set, a concerted scheme to defraud a person by gaming.

1781 G. Parker View Society & Manners I. 196 The Doctor..gave me what I term the dead set with his eye.

1835 A. W. Fonblanque in Examiner 20 Dec. 801/1 The abhorrence of every thing like a ‘dead set’, or an attempt to run down a man by abuse and clamour.

1836 T. P. Thompson Exercises (1842) IV. 91 A dead set is to be made from various quarters, against the abominable innovation of publishing Divisions by authority.

1841 J. Keble Let. to Newman 19 July It was plain from the moment Young went into the room that a dead set was to be made at him.

1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 89 ‘A dead set’, a determined stand, in argument or in movement.

1885 Manch. Evening News 16 July 2/1 The disaffected sections of the Irish population made a dead set against him from the first.

1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XIV xlii. 136 Her late performance had been a dead set At Lord Augustus.

1825 T. Hook Sayings & Doings 2nd Ser. I. 4 James had..made a ‘dead set’ at a ‘fortune’.

1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) iii. 20 There was a girl at Dumdum..who made a dead set at me in the year '4.

1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius xvii I made a dead set at a new beauty just arrived from the South.

1894 F. M. Elliot Rom. Gossip v. 148 Women all through his life made a dead set at Garibaldi.

1806 T. S. Surr Winter in London III. viii. 211 Hollo—what's this!—the duchess of Drinkwater at a dead sett!

1848 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. at Set To be at a dead set, is to be in a fixed state or condition which precludes further progress.

1851 B. H. Hall Coll. College Words 92 See the front of Logic lower; Screws, dead-sets, and fines.

1854 H. D. Thoreau Walden 72 The man is at a dead set who has got through a knot hole or gateway where his sledge load of furniture cannot follow him.

1819 T. B. Johnson Shooter's Compan. 23 Happening to pass a small bush, with the whelp close to me..when the bitch was at a distance, he made a dead set.

1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting v. 122 He made a dead set, getting my wind; and immediately made a desperate charge.

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. xxiv. 851/2 Of a bigge and broad set.

a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Custome of Countrey v. v, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Cc4/2 A goodly Gentleman, Of a more manly set, I never look'd on.

1708 Brit. Apollo 28 May–2 June He is of a Squat Set.

1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. Set..2. Shape, figure, cast, make, Aberd[een].

1888 Harper's Mag. Jan. 291/2 Something effective and picturesque in the set of his strongly built frame.

1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 46 Houselike..for his endurance is resembled to Ambrosia..for his roundset [? read round set] or figure to the Bullocks eie.

1780 A. Young Tour Ireland (Dublin ed.) I. 324 The grist or fineness of the yarn, determines the set or fineness of the reed through which it is to be wrought.

1833 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal II. 350 When the set of the web is from three fourths of an inch to forty meshes in the inch.

1879 T. R. Ashenhurst Pract. Treat. Weaving & Designing Textile Fabrics 272 The systems of calculating the sett of reeds.

1879 T. R. Ashenhurst Pract. Treat. Weaving & Designing Textile Fabrics 272 If a cloth contains sixty threads per inch, it would be said to be a sixty sett cloth.

1893 Times 10 July 4/6 Medium and heavy setts of powerlooms are having most attention, fine descriptions being almost neglected.

1721 A. Ramsay Tartana 197 The Plaid itself gives pleasure to the sight, To see how all its sets imbibe the light.

1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd i. i Scarlet and green the sets, the borders blue.

1811 A. Grant Ess. Superstit. Highlanders II. 207 Every clan wore a different set..of tartan.

1819 W. Scott Legend of Montrose viii, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. III. 327 How many checks in the sett of his plaid and trews.

1897 Standard 21 Sept. 7/1 The Murray ‘sett’.

1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect ii. i. 322 A peculiar set of the limb, for example the turning out of the toes.

1863 B. Taylor Hannah Thurston iv His yellow hair..grew back from the temples with a sturdy set.

1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda I. i. vii. 120 The set of her head and neck.

1896 R. Kipling Seven Seas 165 'E saw the set o' my shoulders.

1933 G. A. Foan Art & Craft Hairdressing Spec. Suppl. iv. 23/2 The procedure here outlined in reference to the final touch must be followed exactly as indicated in order to prevent entirely spoiling the set.

1938 H. Goodman Princ. Professional Beauty Culture v. 90 After permanent set the intramolecular breakdown and rebuilding processes have effectively evolved a new..conformation.

1940 W. Peck Bewildering Cares iv. 110 I met her once at the hairdresser's bewailing that she couldn't afford a nice steak for Herbert on their income, and she had obviously spent the price of it on a ‘set’.

1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xiii. 204 You can't get a hairset here and I have to do my own.

1975 Country Life 27 Mar. 806/1 Many women disliked wearing a hat because it squashed their ‘set’.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 1163 Were all wheels made with one uniform degree of dish, we should then have one simple standard for the set of the axle-arms.

1852 R. Burn Naval & Mil. Techn. Dict. French Lang. (ed. 2) ii. 233 Set or dip of an axletree-arm.

1876 G. E. Voyle Mil. Dict.

1898 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport II. 168/2 (Punt shooting) ‘Set’ of the gun, the elevation given to the gun as it lies on the gun-rest.

1837 L. Hebert Engin. & Mech. Encycl. II. 630 Each successive tooth is placed in opposite directions, at the desired set, to allow the blade of the saw to pass through the wood without resistance.

1853 A. Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) II. 584 The ‘set’ of the saw consists in inclining the teeth at the particular angle known to be the best to facilitate the exit of the sawdust.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1047/1 Hack-saw, a frame saw of moderate set.

1892 Southward's Pract. Printing (ed. 4) 29 (note) The set of the types signifies the proper position of the letters, with reference to the precise amount of space between them.

1908 Legros in Inst. Mech. Engineers: Proc. Dec. 1043 As the letters are not only unequal in set, and since the widths of set generally bear no particular relation to the em (or body).

1908 Legros in Inst. Mech. Engineers: Proc. Dec. 1075 The mould thus made is of definite size for body but variable for the width of set.

1677 F. Stedman Campanalogia 23 A prospect of true ringing at any certain compass under the Sett, may thus be taken.

1677 F. Stedman Campanalogia 39 The reason why one of them is said to move up, is, because he that rings that bell, in the making of the change must hold it up at the Sett a little longer than ordinary, to delay its striking, whereby 'tis made to follow the other note which before it preceded.

1901 H. E. Bulwer Gloss. Techn. Terms Bells & Ringing (1904) 33 Set, the position of a bell after being ‘raised’, when it rests mouth upward a little beyond the balancing point [etc.].

1898 F. Fletcher & H. P. Fletcher Carpentry & Joinery xxvi. 281 The set of the plane may be adjusted during use by tapping the iron of the nose.

1950 M. T. Telling Carpentry & Joinery ii. 116 All [planes] will do specially true work if properly set and sharpened and many of them have mechanical means of adjusting the cutting iron to a fine set.

1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. 12 Dropping potatoe setts.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 655 The tubers are either planted whole, or cut into parts called sets.

1896 P. A. Graham Red Scaur vi. 83 I found her and Mark and Elsie planting potatoes... She carried a basket of ‘sets’,..and Mark was doing the hard work of digging.

1901 Dundee Advertiser 23 Apr. 4 The common potato growing practice is to allow..six inches from sett to sett of the seed.

1658 J. Evelyn tr. N. de Bonnefons French Gardiner 182 When you have cut off the heads of your Cabbages..they will produce small sets, which the Italians call Broccoli.

1888 C. M. Doughty Trav. Arabia Deserta II. xv. 436 Every cluster, which had inclosed in it a spray of the male blossom, was lapped about with a wisp of dry forage; and this defended the sets from early flights of locusts.

1891 Cent. Dict. s.v. The peaches set well, but the sets all dropped off.

1928 Daily Tel. 12 June 5/2 Of culinary apples the set appears good on the whole... Dessert cherries have had a fair set.

1929 E. C. Auchter & H. B. Knapp Orchard & Small Fruit Culture viii. 369 In such orchards, if the blossoms are properly pollinated, much better sets occur.

1964 H. B. Tukey Dwarfed Fruit Trees xxiii. 422 Bee flight is noticeably reduced at 60 degrees F. or below, and pollination, fertilization, and fruit set are accordingly reduced.

1973 H. G. Kingham U.K. Tomato Man. xvi. 126 For all crops overhead damping with a course spray helps to improve set.

1595 P. Henslowe Diary 2 Jan. (1961) 26 [Title of play] The seat at mawe.

1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Partita,..a set or match at any game.

1633 J. Ford Loves Sacrifice iii. sig. G2^v You were best to try a set at Maw.

1668 J. Dryden Sr Martin Mar-all i. 5 I lose all my Sets, when I want but one of up.

1680 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 58 Picket... The usual Set is an hundred.

1680 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 75 At Cribbidge..the number of the Set is sixty one.

1680 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 79 This Game I conceive is called All-Fours from Highest, Lowest, Jack, and Game, which is the Set as some play it.

1687 C. Sedley Bellamira iv. i, in Wks. (1778) II. 161 I lost three sets at back-gammon.

a1626 W. Rowley Birth of Merlin (1662) sig. A4 Your Sister and Lord Edwin are in game, and all their wits at stake to win the Set.

a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Richard II cclxxxvi, in Poems (1878) III. 208 If the sword must try it, Hee had an Equall sett, and choos'd to play it.

1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther ii. 42 That was but civil war, an equal set, Where Piles with piles, and eagles Eagles met.

1578 J. Florio Firste Fruites f. 8 I will goe see some play at Tenise, and perhaps play also: will you play two or three settes with me?

1591 J. Florio Second Frutes 25 P. How manie are you my masters? H. We are but two that will plaie. P. Will you plaie in set?

1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 185 Ye shall see them play Sets at Tennis in the heat of Summer.

a1769 E. Hoyle Games (1778) 203 Six Games make a Set of Tennis, but if what is called an Advantage Set is played, two successive Games above five Games must be won to decide; or, in Case it should be six Games all, two successive Games must still be won on one Side to conclude the Set.

1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel II. xii. 283 Perhaps you would like a set at tennis, or a game at balloon.

1886 Field 31 July 182/2 Mr. Joy only beat Mr. Thorpe after all three sets had been exhausted.

1891 ‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley v. 36 I shouldn't have liked to lose my first sett with you.

1949 Lawn Tennis (‘Know the Game’ Ser.) 15 The first player or pair to win six games wins the set, except that should the score become five games each—‘Five All’—one player or pair must become two games ahead to win the set.

1980 Guardian 14 July 18/5 Miss Jevans..had a bad patch in the second set before winning 6–1, 7–5.

1928 Observer 1 July 29/3 When that cunning player..would, at set-point, send one as hard as he could hit it straight down the centre line.

1946 Times 26 June 2/3 The Dutch pair, after missing a set point when leading by six games to five, finally secured the first set at 9–7.

1972 D. Delman Sudden Death vi. 152 Set point. I crouch, racket twirling.

1928 Daily Tel. 26 June 11/7 He went on to lead 4–2 in the third set, and then, at 5–4, had three set balls before running out.

1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 373 As the plasterer lays on the set, he draws the brush backwards and forwards over it, till the surface is smooth.

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 613 By set is denoted a superficial coat of fine stuff or putty upon the rendering.

1837 in Civil Engineer & Archit. Jrnl. 1 (1838) 242/2 A set is then applied to the end of the wedge, and the workman strikes it with a hammer.

1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 1031 Sett, in piling, a piece placed temporarily on the head of a pile.

a1808 State, Leslie v. Fraser 56 (Jam.) The practice of hauling their fishing-nets and feith-sets to the shore.

1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling iv. 86 The angler..hooks the fish on to his line by a certain arrangement of hooks called a flight or set.

1882 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 102 The silver~bellied eel..is only caught in the eel-sets.

1892 Longman's Mag. Nov. 88 Along the Norfolk rivers a very important eel fishery is carried on by means of fixed nets known as ‘eel-sets’.

1858 R. Hunt Catal. Mus. Pract. Geol. 223 The pillars are taken away, commencing at the extreme end of the sett.

1862 Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 216 The strait sets are excavations four or five feet wide..made..in the side of a seam of coal at a distance of about six yards from each other.

1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining Sett, a measure of length along the face of a stall, usually from say 6 to 10 feet, by which holers and drivers are paid. A certain number of setts comprise a day's work.

1881 E. Ingersoll Oyster-industry (10th Census U.S.: Bureau of Fisheries) 248 ‘The Set is good in Somerset this year’; i.e., there is an abundance of infant oysters.

1887 G. B. Goode Fisheries U.S.: Hist. & Methods II. 515 At only a few places does a breed of oysters, or a ‘set’, as it is termed, occur with any regularity.

1887 G. B. Goode Fisheries U.S.: Hist. & Methods II. 540 (note) There is no word in the Northern States for infant oysters, except the terms ‘set’, ‘spat’, ‘spawn’, &c.

1912 V. E. Roe Maid of Whispering Hills 74 What is all this beside that which waits the runner of the trail at every ‘set’ in those many miles?

1942 Sun (Baltimore) 2 Feb. 4/3 Each morning the trapper makes the rounds of his ‘set’. He strips the skin from the animals..and takes the pelts to market.

1977 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 30 Mar. 33/3 We were still within 20 yards of the trap's position, when a 55-pound beaver, swimming unseen under the ice, hit the set.

1682 N. Tate & J. Dryden 2nd Pt. Absalom & Achitophel 17 The Rest..Who n'er had Wit nor Will for Mischief yet, But pleas'd to be reputed of a Set.

1693 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §122. 151 A Sett of Children thus ordered, and kept from the ill example of others, would..learn to read, write, and what else one would have them, as others do their ordinary Plays.

1701 W. Paterson Proposals Council of Trade 72 The Fisheries were become a tempting Morsel for a Sett of avaricious Hucksters, and Monopolists.

1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 105 A Set of Artisans, that by the help of several Poles..build themselves up into a kind of Pyramid.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 440. ⁋1 A Sett of merry Fellows.

1733 J. Barber Let. 6 Feb. in J. Swift et al. Lett. (1768) V. 302 I have been, for many years, plagued with a sett of ungrateful monsters, called Cousins, that I tremble at the name.

1774 J. Bryant New Syst. (new ed.) I. 258 This kind of divination is still carried on by a set of priests.

1783 S. Johnson Lives Eng. Poets (rev. ed.) III. 148 A very numerous and splendid set of acquaintance.

1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering III. viii. 153 A set of smugglers, gypsies, and other desperadoes.

1837 H. Martineau Society in Amer. II. 164 I think the abolitionists of the United States the most reasonable set of people that I ever knew to be united together for one object.

1866 J. E. T. Rogers Hist. Agric. & Prices I. xxiii. 601 In the hope that a new set of customers might be developed.

1894 E. T. Ayers Bowls 26 The six [players] divide or ‘cut’ into two sets of three.

1683 W. Kennett tr. Erasmus Witt against Wisdom 34 There will come a new hungry Sett.

1691 J. Dryden King Arthur Prol. sig. A5^v Among the rest, there are a sharping Sett.

a1704 T. Brown Declam. Praise Poverty (rev. ed.) in Wks. (1730) I. 92 If this sett were thrown aside and men of poverty and honesty put in their stead.

1759 S. Johnson Idler 13 Oct. 321 There was a select set, supposed to be distinguished by superiority of intellects.

1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey I. ii. xiv. 196 ‘Who are we among,..?’ asked Vivian. ‘Oh! an odd set,’ said the lady, looking dignified.

1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 17 A highly trust-worthy, laborious, and hardworking set.

1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey I. 292 The shepherds were an uncouth-looking set.

1885 Liverpool Daily Post 23 Oct. 4/7 He did not speak or preach in the dialect of any party or set.

1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence i. liv. 28 In comes another Set, and kicketh them down Stairs.

1750 in Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury (1870) I. 78 That the Bedford set will be honourably kicked up or down stairs.

1790 E. Burke Corr. (1844) III. 140 I intend no controversy with Dr. Price, or Lord Shelburne, or any other of their set.

1882 in R. S. Churchill Winston S. Churchill (1967) Compan. Vol. I. i. iii. 90 Place in 3rd Set of 14 boys for ½ Term—14th.

1889 Boy's Own Paper 7 Sept. 781 Those dry definitions [of Euclid] seem twaddle to me (I admit I am low in my set).

1914 ‘I. Hay’ Lighter Side School Life i. 15 He must know whether Mr. A. in the Senior Science Set is expounding theories of inorganic chemistry which have been obsolete for ten years.

1961 M. Beadle These Ruins are Inhabited (1963) vi. 86 Sets are ability groups. In each subject the boys had been divided into fast, average and slower-moving sections; each of these sets met as a class.

1971 P. D. James Shroud for Nightingale ii. 41 We haven't used the demonstration room since Nurse Pearce's death but otherwise the set is continuing to work according to plan.

1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 752 Three, four, or more pickers being employed in clearing the binds of the hops..: these, with the person engaged in sorting the poles, are denominated a set.

1780 R. B. Sheridan School for Scandal i. ii. 12 The set she meets at her house, encourage her to disobedience.

1798 S. Lee Young Lady's Tale in H. Lee Canterbury Tales II. 91 Sir Edward, not deigning to mingle with the set, leaned on his daughter's chair.

a1817 J. Austen Persuasion (1818) IV. iv. 69 They will move in the first set in Bath. View more context for this quotation

1837 H. Martineau Society in Amer. III. 33 What a delightful ‘set’ she belonged to at her school: how comfortable they all were once, without any sets, till several grocers' daughters began to come in.

1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess Prol. 1 I was there From college, visiting the son,..with others of our set.

1854 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes (1855) II. viii. 80 Your intimacy was with Emma. It has cooled. Your sets are different. The Tomkins's are not quite &c. &c.

1890 W. Besant Demoniac i These men constituted the best set in the College... All were reading men, and all good men.

1906 B. Vaughan Sins of Society (1908) 16 What a treacherous world was the Smart Set in which the Prodigal rioted.

1914 J. M. Keynes Let. 2 July in R. F. Harrod Life J. M. Keynes (1951) iv. 171 She..is asking no one but a few of my so-called ‘Bloomsbury set’!

1922 M. Cowley in Dial 73 231 She [sc. K. Mansfield] has three backgrounds only: continental hotels, New Zealand upper-class society, and a certain artistic set in London.

1938 H. Nicolson Diary 19 Sept. (1966) 361 We talk of..how terrible has been the influence of the Cliveden set.

1944 N. Coward Middle East Diary 49 This place is the last refuge of the soi-disant ‘International Set’.

1960 J. Betjeman Summoned by Bells ix. 107 I climbed,..Until I reached what seemed to me the peak—The leisured set in Canterbury Quad.

1977 News of World 17 Apr. 5/5 The Prince of the Beatniks abdicated... He said goodbye to the Chelsea Set.

1959 Esquire Nov. 70 Set, a party.

1967 Trans-action Apr. 5/2 The more or less organized center of street life is the ‘set’—meaning both the peer group and the places where it hangs out.

1969 R. L. Keiser Vice Lords iv. 40 A set had been planned... Throughout the prior week, the set was a constant topic of conversation. The clothes that were going to be worn and the girls that were going to be present were repeatedly discussed.

1970 E. Bullins Theme is Blackness (1973) 178 What's happenin'? What'cha doin' tonight, baby? Why don't we make the set?

1972 J. Mills Rep. to Commissioner 100 When junkies and pushers on a particular set learn or suspect an agent's identity, he has ‘taken a burn’.

1975 Amer. Speech 1972 47 152 Blue eyes, you are not in my set.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Ieu Vn ieu de violles, a set, or chest of violls.

1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. ii. ii. 53 You must have two or three Sorts and Sets of Steel Letters and Figures.

1677 G. Miege New Dict. French & Eng. i. sig. *Vvv^v/3 Un Jeu de Quilles [Boyer: neuf quilles pour jouer], a set of pins.

1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 98 A whole Set of Punches of the same Body of Roman and Italica.

1691 T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 70 They will..provide two setts of Rudder-Irons to each Ship.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 108. ¶4 A Set of Shuttlecocks.

1773 Life N. Frowde 39 A complete Sett of Mathematical Instruments.

1825 Gentleman's Mag. 95 i. 215 Five or six of these barbacues form a set close to the pulping-mill.

1842 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 5 387/1 The ‘hanging sets’ or columns of pumps, with their ‘ground spears’ used in sinking the shafts.

1848 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 9 ii. 567 The bin-man, with his pickers, is placed to a certain number of hills, which is called a set.

1864 A. Jeffrey Hist. Roxburghshire IV. 117 A sett of machines, at this time [c1818], consisted of a double scribbler,..a double carder,..a 36-spindled billy,..and four 48-spindled jennies.

1879 Man. Siege & Garrison Artillery Exercises 117 A set of scales, consisting of a front and rear scale.

1881 R. Forgan Golfer's Handbk. 35 Set, a pack of clubs.

1884 Instr. Mil. Engin. (ed. 3) I. ii. 23 In laying out tools in rows the sets should be one pace apart.

1897 R. F. Foster Compl. Hoyle 563 Matadore Game... Four dominoes in the set are trumps or Matadores.

?1889 W. Tate Princ. Mining xxi. 157 The lifting set delivers into a cistern from which the forcing set pumps the water to bank.

1950 Water Power II. 219 The installation comprises two vertical sets consisting of motor and pump only.

1977 Pump Costs (5th Techn. Conf. of Brit. Pump Manuf. Assoc.) 231 The circuits were modified to give a signal ‘pump unprimed’ but not to shut down the set.

?1891 Man. Instr. Army Telegr.: Field Telegraphs Plate II (caption) Two single current sets.

1898 Electrician 4 Mar. 625/2 A diminutive telephone set..is now being put on the market.

1903 Sci. Siftings 25 49/1 The instruments of the portable military out~fits are similar to those of the permanent station sets.

1913 Wireless World Apr. p. xxxiv/2 The hon. secretary showed some model Marconi apparatus and a portable set.

1915 A. Fage Aeroplane iv. 42 A wireless set driven by a motor-cycle engine is mounted in front of the passenger's seat.

1923 Radio Broadcast Jan. 181/2 Drug stores, music stores, cigar stores, even men's furnishing stores have radio sets for sale.

1924 E. T. Larner (title) Crystal Sets.

1926 R. W. Hutchinson First Course Wireless ix. 156 A long trailing connection between lead-in and set, or a long connection attached to the walls is not efficient.

1929 Daily Express 7 Nov. 14/3 It means that set-owners are thrown on their own resources if they desire to reach out beyond the limits of these islands.

1931 B. Brown Talking Pictures vi. 146 Wherever one looked there seemed space and wide, flat walls. One of the larger-sized sets should have been required to fill such an amount of enclosing surfaces.

1932 B.B.C. Year-bk. 116 The purely utilitarian purpose of assuring the listener in an inoffensive way that all is well with his set.

1936 W. H. S. Smith Let. 13 Dec. in Young Man's Country (1977) ii 46 I dropped in on Stansbury..to hear his wireless which is a very good set.

1948 J. L. Hornung Radar Primer v. 123 The electrical features of radar sets for use in airplanes are similar to those of sets used on ships.

1955 Radio Times 22 Apr. 30/1 (advt.) Here is a..table radiogram... Fine sets these Ferguson's.

1961 L. Mumford City in Hist. xvi. 496 Reality has been progressively reduced to what filters through the screen of the television set.

1972 Works Engineer June 12 (heading) Standby electric generator sets.

1974 P. N. Wilson Water Turbines 17 (caption) Model of 83,000 HP Francis turbine hydro-electric set at Eildon Power Station, Australia.

1976 M. Gilbert Night of Twelfth ix. 88 He used to have that old set going all day. You'll be just in time for the six o'clock news.

1931 B. Brown Talking Pictures viii. 188 The twelve minutes or so occupied by the process might be filled in by the orchestra or non-synchronous set.

1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer ii. sig. M.iv^v The musike of a sette of Violes.

1660 Englands Joy in Fourth Coll. Scarce & Valuable Tracts (1751) II. 142 In many Places Sets of loud Musick.

1670 R. Baxter Cure Church-div. 75 As a musical instrument in tune or a set of musick, delight the hearer by the pleasing harmony.

1679 A. Lovell tr. F. Pomey Indiculus Universalis 165 A set of Violins.

1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 223 A variety of tunes, played upon a set of bells.

1906 J. J. Raven Bells 11 A treble in a village set of four or five.

1795 Diary in Antiquary (1896) Oct. 303 Doncaster... Fine set of organs.

1893 R. L. Stevenson Catriona Concl. 368 We were guided up to the garret where he lay by the sound of Highland piping. It seemed he had just borrowed a set of them from Bohaldie to amuse his sickness.

c1600 in M. E. C. Walcott William of Wykeham (1852) 166 Item, a sett of Ovids 0£. 5s. 4d.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) ii. i. 106 And this small packet of Greeke and Latine bookes...Take you the Lute, and you the set of bookes.

1712 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1889) III. 461 I want Setts also for several others.

1726 in J. Ker Mem. (advt.) Price 10 Guineas the small, 15 Guineas the large Paper in Sheets for the whole Set.

1778 F. Burney Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 54 My Father told me it was a shame that I, the Author, should not have even one set of my own Work.

1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. xx. 322 Commentaries,..sets of the fathers, and sermons.

1873 T. B. Aldrich Marjorie Daw i. 10 A complete set of Balzac's works, twenty-seven volumes.

1911 Publisher's List Dickens' Works, 18 vols. Sold in Sets only, excepting the single vols. listed above.

1590 T. Watson (title) The first sett, of Italian Madrigalls Englished.

1603 Inventory 29 Mar. in J. Gage Hist. & Antiq. Hengrave, Suffolk (1822) 24 vj bookes covered with pchement. cont^g vj setts in a book, with songs of iiij, v, vj, vij and viij partes.

1788 in G. Grove Dict. Music (1883) III. 476/2 A set of Quartetts.

1829 W. Scott Anne of Geierstein III. vii. 189 His Highness..composed an entire set of grotesque music for the Festival of Asses.

1883 J. Stainer in G. Grove Dict. Music III. 472 The Gloria has once more been included in the set... The Offertory sentences may perhaps be looked upon as a legitimate addition to the set.

1701 J. Hudson Let. 29 Apr. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Lit. Men (1843) 302 I wish you would try Smith & Walford for..the Philosophical Transactions, our sett reaching not far, and being imperfect in the first Volumes.

1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 31. ⁋8 They had never heard of the Tatler 'till I brought down a Set.

1830 T. Carlyle in Foreign Rev. 5 12 He perused the antiquated sets of Newspapers.

1834 T. B. Macaulay Let. 4 Jan. in G. O. Trevelyan Life & Lett. Macaulay (1876) I. 354 All the Edinburgh Reviews are being bound, so that we shall have a complete set up to the forthcoming number.

1768 Boyer's Royal Dict. (rev. ed.) (at cited word) A whole set of Prints ingraved by John Audran.

1841 R. Browning Pippa Passes in Bells & Pomegranates No. I 5/1 You brought those foreign prints... Nothing but saying His own set wants the proof-mark, roused him up.

1854 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes I. xi. 118 He could talk the art-cant..and had a set of Morghens and Madonnas.

1818 J. Chitty Bills of Exchange (ed. 5) 81 The several parts of a foreign bill are called a set; each part contains a condition, that it shall be paid, provided the others remain unpaid.

1865 H. Phillips Amer. Paper Currency II. 91 Bills of exchange were directed to be prepared in setts of four.

1883 Law Rep.: Queen's Bench Div. 11 333 The bill of lading had been drawn in a set of three copies.

1946 B. Treadwell Big Bk. of Swing 125/2 Set, group of musical selections.

1955 S. Whitmore Solo ii. v. 159 Between sets at Fack's Jaeger found himself alone.

1967 New Yorker 21 Jan. 52 I played two sets and Marsala asked me to join the band.

1977 Sounds 1 Jan. We all write lyrics but they're too disgusting to be included in the set.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. iii. 135 Hee'le watch the horolodge a double set, If drinke rocke not his cradle. View more context for this quotation

1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 74 The least bitling of it will so far club and fall in with the laws that bind the whole Set.

1681 H. More Plain Expos. Daniel App. ii. 278 The seven last plagues of the Vials supposing a Sett or Number of plagues antecedent.

1692 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. v. 32 You do not cast any given Sett of Faces with four Cubical Dice.

1759 R. Smith Harmonics (ed. 2) ix. 212 The Proper Set of Beats, which the said v^ths ought to make in the given organ.

1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering II. 303 A new set of words to the old tune of ‘over the Water to Charlie’.

1841 T. R. Jones Gen. Outl. Animal Kingdom xxviii. 574 An elaborate temporary set of muscles provided for the purpose.

1893 H. H. Howorth Glacial Nightmare I. 31 A set of low hills also intervene.

1678 J. Browne Compl. Disc. Wounds l. 236 The Tongue being thus guarded with a Sett of Teeth.

1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical ix. 97 Other knaves..take as much for Drawing out an Old Tooth, as would buy a Sett of New ones.

1705 J. Vanbrugh Confederacy i. i I have worn out four pair of pattens with following my old lady Youthful, for one set of false teeth, and but three pots of paint.

1854 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes I. xxiv. 230 Her ladyship's teeth (a new and exceedingly handsome set).

1878 L. P. Meredith Teeth (ed. 2) 250 With mouths so unfavourable that it is impossible to adapt a set of teeth to them.

1886 C. Scott Pract. Sheep-farming 15 Each set when complete consists of incisor, canine, and molar teeth.

1713 J. Addison Cato i. iv. 12 'Tis not a Sett of Features, or Complexion..that I admire.

1779 G. Keate Sketches from Nature (ed. 2) I. 59 That air of sensibility..accompanied with a pleasing set of features.

1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. ii. 25 He had a tall handsome figure, a good set of features.

1633 T. James Strange Voy. 104 Wee must haue a set of faire weather, to passe the Straight.

a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1666 (1955) III. 452 With a long set of faire & warme weather.

1880 W. H. Patterson Gloss. Words Antrim & Down (at cited word) A long set of saft weather.

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. i. 37 Which Operations..do furnish the Understanding with another sett of Ideas.

1701 J. Swift Disc. Contests Nobles & Commons v. 57 He assumes..an entire Set of very different Airs.

1730 A. Malcolm New Syst. Arithm. 509 Conceive two or more different Setts (or Systems) of Things, containing each the same, or a different number of Things.

1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. p. xxiii My old Friend..did..invent a Set of Words and Phrases.

1745 E. Young Complaint: Night the Eighth 20 Virtue has her peculiar Set of Pains.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 240 An exact plan..of Nature's operations in this minute set of creatures.

1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 135 The set of notions, which he had acquired from his education.

1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. vi. i. 300 The Constitution, the set of Laws,..that men will live under.

1857 A. Cayley Coll. Math. Papers (1890) III. 35 Let L denote a set of any four elements, a, b, c, d.

1897 W. P. Ker Epic & Romance ii. vi. 201 The poet is at this point free to make use of a new set of motives.

1837 W. R. Hamilton in Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 17 Science 422 The author hopes to publish hereafter..a Theory of Triplets and Sets of Moments.

1848 W. R. Hamilton in Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 21 201 When we have in any manner been led to form successively the separate conceptions of any number of moments of time, we may afterwards form the new conception of a system, or momental set, to which all these separate moments belong.

1886 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 177 23 If the collection be such that whatever undistinguished components abcd…, pqrs…we select, and whatever other component lmno…we select, w, x, y, z…can always be selected from the collection, then the collection will be termed a set.

1857 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 147 717 Any values (x₁, y₁, z₁,…) satisfying the equations, are said to constitute a set of roots of the system.

1897 W. Burnside Theory Groups of Finite Order i. 1 Let a₁, a₂,…, a_n be a set of n distinct letters.

1903 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 4 27 A set of elements in which a rule of combination ○ is so defined as to satisfy the following three postulates shall be called an Abelian group with respect to ○.

1937 Jrnl. Symbolic Logic 2 66 According to the leading idea of the von Neumann set theory we have to deal with two kinds of individuals, which we may distinguish as sets and classes. The distinction may be thought of in this way, that a set is a multitude forming a proper thing, whereas a class is a predicate regarded only with respect to its extension.

1965 E. M. Patterson & D. E. Rutherford Elem. Abstr. Algebra i. 3 If x is an element of a set S, we write x ∈ S.

1972 A. G. Howson Handbk. Terms Algebra & Anal. ii. 8 A set is a totality of certain definite, distinguishable objects of our intuition or thought—called the elements of the set. This classic definition of a set was given by Georg Cantor in 1874. Such attempts to give elementary definitions of a set are, however, doomed to failure, their being in the main based on the use of undefined synonyms, such as ‘collection’, and leading to logical inconsistencies (see Russell paradox..). For this reason, mathematicians now regard the notion of a set as an undefined, primitive concept.

1975 I. Stewart Concepts Mod. Math. iv. 47 There is only one empty set. All empty sets are equal.

1935 W. F. Twaddell On defining Phoneme 60 A modification occurs only in phonetic fractions corresponding to forms, the relations of which constitute relations of sets of micro-phonemes.