Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To surround with hostile forces.
- transitive verb To crowd around; hem in.
- transitive verb To harass or overwhelm, as with requests.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To lay siege to; beleaguer; beset or surround with armed forces for the purpose of compelling to surrender, either by famine or by violent attacks: as, to
besiege a castle or city. - To beset; throng around; harass.
- Synonyms To beset, hem in, invest, blockade.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To beset or surround with armed forces, for the purpose of compelling to surrender; to lay siege to; to beleaguer; to beset.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
beset or surround with armed forces for the purpose of compelling tosurrender , tolay siege to,beleaguer . - verb transitive, figuratively To
beleaguer ,lay siege to,beset . - verb to
assail orply , as with requests or demands.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb harass, as with questions or requests
- verb surround so as to force to give up
- verb cause to feel distressed or worried
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word besiege.
Examples
-
BENNETT: Yes, there is, because the word besiege reentered our vocabulary before the weekend.
-
Inward sorrows, gnawing thoughts that "besiege" men, doubts, remorse, gloomy landscapes, all afford them abundant inspiration.
A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance Jean Jules Jusserand
-
Well, then the rest of us will 'besiege' the RCC and start demanding they be held accountable for these crimes.
-
American bishop urges Catholics to 'besiege' New York Times
-
Columnist Ahmed Gamal Badawi wrote in the liberal opposition daily Al-Wafd that the government policy to "besiege" Islamists with "obscenity" would backfire and only add
unknown title 2009
-
Columnist Ahmed Gamal Badawi wrote in the liberal opposition daily Al-Wafd that the government policy to "besiege" Islamists with "obscenity" would backfire and only add
unknown title 2009
-
Columnist Ahmed Gamal Badawi wrote in the liberal opposition daily Al-Wafd that the government policy to "besiege" Islamists with "obscenity" would backfire and only add
unknown title 2009
-
Columnist Ahmed Gamal Badawi wrote in the liberal opposition daily Al-Wafd that the government policy to "besiege" Islamists with "obscenity" would backfire and only add
-
Columnist Ahmed Gamal Badawi wrote in the liberal opposition daily Al-Wafd that the government policy to "besiege" Islamists with "obscenity" would backfire and only add
Long Island Press 2009
-
"besiege" Israel though boycotts, raising the price of its oppression.
The Guardian World News Omar Barghouti 2010
chained_bear commented on the word besiege
To surround a castle in order to cut off its supplies and make the occupants surrender.
August 24, 2008
ramjadhav commented on the word besiege
divide it like-->be+siege(seize)-- Indian army has seized the line of control, and now the whole area is surrounded by armed forces.
December 27, 2013