besiege — 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
besiege — [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
Besiege — 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
besiege — index assault, attack, bait (harass), harass, harrow, importune, obsess, overwhelm … Law dictionary
besiege — (v.) c.1300, from BE (Cf. be ) + SIEGE (Cf. siege). Related: Besieged; besieging … Etymology dictionary
besiege — like siege, is spelt ie … Modern English usage
besiege — ► 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
besiege — [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
besiege — 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
besiege — verb Besiege is used with these nouns as the object: ↑castle, ↑fortress … Collocations dictionary
