Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To surround, beset.
  • verb To block, obstruct; act detrimentally toward.
  • verb To overwhelm; cover completely.
  • noun dialectal, Scotland A tract of wasteland enclosed and taken into cultivation.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English umbesetten ("to surround"), from Old English ymbsettan ("to set around, surround, beset, encompass"), from Proto-Germanic *umbi (“around”) + *satjanan (“to set”), equivalent to um- +‎ beset or umbe- +‎ set. Compare also Old English ymbsittan ("to sit around, surround"), Dutch omzetten ("to convert, transpose"), German umsetzen ("to convert, transpose, translate"). More at umbe, set.

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