Noun: siege
| Singular | siege |
| Plural | sieges |
Sample Sentences
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The Peloponnesian war is a proper subject for history, the siege of Athens for an epic poem, and the death of Alcibiades for a tragedy. [1748, [David Hume], chapter 3, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 5:]
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Liu Pang's general Han Hsin won the strategic city of Hsing-yang for him, but Hsiang-Yü put Liu Pang under siege there. [2001, Alfred S. Bradford, With Arrow, Sword, and Spear: A History of Warfare in the Ancient World, Praeger, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 145:]
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But once again Hodgson's men found a way to get the result they required and there is a real air of respectability about their campaign even though they had to survive a first-half siege from a Ukraine side desperate for the win they needed to progress. [2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport:]
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Now Merlyn said kyng Arthur / goo thow and aspye me in al this land l knyghtes whiche ben of most prowesse & worship / within short tyme merlyn had founde suche knyȝtes[…]Thenne the Bisshop of Caunterbury was fette and he blessid the syeges with grete Royalte and deuoycyon / and there sette the viij and xx knyghtes in her syeges [1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “ij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book V:]
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To th'vpper part, where was aduaunced hye / A stately siege of soueraigne maiestye; / And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay[…]. [1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:]
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A siege of herons feeds in the shallows. [2000, Phil Cousineau, The Book of Roads, San Francisco, CA: Sisyphus Press, page 144:]
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And whoever saw a siege of herons? [1954 June, John Welman, Blackwoods Magazine, Blackwood Pillans and Wilson, page 484:]
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A siege of herons blanketed the quays [2002, Richard Matthews, The Mill Is Burning, Grove Press, page 19:]
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Another ground were certain holes or cavities observable about the siege; which being perceived in males, made some conceive there might be also a feminine nature in them. [1650, Thomas Browne, chapter III, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 17:]
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Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How cam'st thou / to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he vent Trinculos? [1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:]
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I fetch my life and being / From men of royal siege. [c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:]
Nouns inflected like siege
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Middle English sege, from Old French sege, siege, seige (modern French siège), from Vulgar Latin *sēdicum, from Latin sēdicŭlum, sēdēcula (“small seat”), from Latin sēdēs (“seat”). See: Middle English Nouns '
sege', Latin Nouns '
sēdicŭlum', Latin Nouns '
sēdēs'.