besiege

  • 1besiege — besiege, beleaguer, invest, blockade mean to surround an enemy in a fortified or strong position so as to prevent ingress or egress. Besiege implies a sitting down before the entrances to a fortified place (as a castle or a walled town), and it… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 2besiege — [v1] surround; assault assail, attack, beleaguer, beset, blockade, come at from all sides, confine, congregate, encircle, encompass, environ, hem in, invest, lay siege to, shut in, trap, work on, work over; concepts 86,90 Ant. leave alone besiege …

    New thesaurus

  • 3Besiege — Be*siege , v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Besieged}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Besieging}.] [OE. bisegen; pref. be + segen to siege. See {Siege}.] To beset or surround with armed forces, for the purpose of compelling to surrender; to lay siege to; to beleaguer; to… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 4besiege — index assault, attack, bait (harass), harass, harrow, importune, obsess, overwhelm …

    Law dictionary

  • 5besiege — (v.) c.1300, from BE (Cf. be ) + SIEGE (Cf. siege). Related: Besieged; besieging …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 6besiege — like siege, is spelt ie …

    Modern English usage

  • 7besiege — ► VERB 1) surround (a place) with armed forces in order to capture it or force it to surrender. 2) harass or oppress with requests or complaints. DERIVATIVES besieger noun. ORIGIN Old French asegier …

    English terms dictionary

  • 8besiege — [bē sēj′, bisēj′] vt. besieged, besieging [ME bisegen < be , BE + segen, to lay siege to < sege, seat, SIEGE] 1. to hem in with armed forces, esp. for a sustained attack; lay siege to 2. to close in on; crowd around 3. to overwhelm, harass …

    English World dictionary

  • 9besiege — UK [bɪˈsiːdʒ] / US [bɪˈsɪdʒ] verb [transitive] Word forms besiege : present tense I/you/we/they besiege he/she/it besieges present participle besieging past tense besieged past participle besieged 1) a) to surround a place with an army and… …

    English dictionary

  • 10besiege — [[t]bɪsi͟ːʤ[/t]] besieges, besieging, besieged 1) VERB: usu passive If you are besieged by people, many people want something from you and continually bother you. [be V ed] She was besieged by the press and the public. 2) VERB If soldiers besiege …

    English dictionary