siege

See also: Siege, siége, siégé, and siège

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

siege

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

syege (15th–16th centuries)

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”). The military sense of the term is derived from the notion of an army "sitting down" in front of its target.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /siːd͡ʒ/, [sɪi̯d͡ʒ]
- Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -iːdʒ
Hyphenation: siege

Noun

siege (plural sieges)

Military action.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:siege.
1. (military) A prolonged military assault or a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition.
  They sued for peace after the long siege.
  - 1748, [David Hume], chapter 3, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 5:
    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.
  - 2001, Alfred S. Bradford, With Arrow, Sword, and Spear: A History of Warfare in the Ancient World‎^[1], Praeger, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 145:
    Liu Pang's general Han Hsin won the strategic city of Hsing-yang for him, but Hsiang-Yü put Liu Pang under siege there.
2. (US) A period of struggle or difficulty, especially from illness.
3. (figuratively) A prolonged assault or attack.
  - 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport:
    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.
A seat.
1. (obsolete) A seat, especially as used by someone of importance or authority.
  - 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “ij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book V:
    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
    (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
    To th'vpper part, where was aduaunced hye / A stately siege of soueraigne maiestye; / And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay […].
2. (obsolete) An ecclesiastical see.
3. (obsolete) The place where one has his seat; a home, residence, domain, empire.
4. The seat of a heron while looking out for prey.
5. (collective) A flock of herons.
  - 2000, Phil Cousineau, The Book of Roads‎^[2], San Francisco, CA: Sisyphus Press, page 144:
    A siege of herons feeds in the shallows.
  - 1954 June, John Welman, Blackwoods Magazine‎^[3], Blackwood Pillans and Wilson, page 484:
    And whoever saw a siege of herons?
  - 2002, Richard Matthews, The Mill Is Burning‎^[4], Grove Press, page 19:
    A siege of herons blanketed the quays
6. (obsolete) A toilet seat.
7. (obsolete) The anus; the rectum.
  - 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:
    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.
8. (obsolete) Excrements, stool, fecal matter.
  - 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]:
    Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How cam'st thou / to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he vent Trinculos?
9. (obsolete) Rank; grade; station; estimation.
  - 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]:
    I fetch my life and being / From men of royal siege.
10. (obsolete) The floor of a glass-furnace.
(obsolete) A place with a toilet seat: an outhouse; a lavatory.

Synonyms

(place with a toilet seat): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Derived terms

Translations

military blockade of settlement

Afrikaans: beleëring sg, beleg sg
Albanian: rrethim (sq) m
Amharic: መከበብ (mäkäbäb)
Arabic: حِصَار m (ḥiṣār), مُحَاصَرَة f (muḥāṣara)
Armenian: պաշարում (hy) (pašarum)
Asturian: asediu m
Azerbaijani: mühasirə (az)
Basque: setio sg
Belarusian: абло́га (be) f (ablóha), блака́да f (blakáda)
Breton: seziz (br) m
Bulgarian: обса́да (bg) f (obsáda)
Catalan: setge (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 攻城戰 / 攻城战 (gōngchéngzhàn), 包圍戰 / 包围战 (zh) (báowéizhàn), 圍城 / 围城 (zh) (wéichéng), 圍困 / 围困 (zh) (wéikùn)
Czech: obležení n
Danish: belejring c
Dutch: belegering (nl) f, beleg (nl) n
Esperanto: sieĝo
Estonian: piiramine
Finnish: piiritys (fi)
French: siège (fr) m
Galician: asedio (gl) m, sitio (gl) m, cerco m
Georgian: ალყა (ka) (alq̇a), ბლოკადა (bloḳada)
German: Belagerung (de) f
Greek: πολιορκία (el) (poliorkía)
Ancient Greek: πολιορκία f (poliorkía)
Hebrew: מָצוֹר (he) m (matsór)
Hindi: घेरा (hi) m (gherā), घेराबंदी (hi) f (gherābandī)
Hungarian: ostrom (hu)
Icelandic: herkví f, umsátur n
Ido: siejo (io)
Indonesian: pengepungan (id)
Irish: léigear m
Italian: assedio (it)
Japanese: 攻城戦 (こうじょうせん, kōjōsen), 包囲 (ja) (ほうい, hōi)
Kazakh: қамау (kk) (qamaw), қоршау (qoršaw), қамалау (qamalaw)
Khmer: ការឡោមព័ទ្ធ (kaalaompŏətthɔɔ)
Korean: 공성전(攻城戰) (gongseongjeon), 포위(包圍) (ko) (powi)
Kyrgyz: камоо (ky) (kamoo), курчоо (ky) (kurcoo)
Latin: obsidiō f, obsessiō f
Latvian: aplenkums m
Lithuanian: apgula f
Macedonian: опсада f (opsada)
Malay: pengepungan
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:
Bokmål: beleiring m or f

Nynorsk: omleiring f
Pashto: محاصره f (mahāsera)
Persian: محاصره (fa) (mohâsere)
Polish: oblężenie (pl) n
Portuguese: sítio (pt) m, cerco (pt) m, assédio (pt) m
Romanian: asediu (ro) n
Russian: оса́да (ru) f (osáda), блока́да (ru) f (blokáda)
Scottish Gaelic: sèist m or f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: о̏псада f

Latin: ȍpsada (sh) f
Slovak: obliehanie n
Slovene: obleganje (sl) n
Spanish: sitio (es) m, asedio (es) m
Swedish: belägring (sv) c
Tajik: муҳосира (tg) (muhosira), муҳосара (muhosara)
Thai: การล้อม (th) (gaan-lɔ́ɔm)
Turkish: kuşatma (tr), muhasara (tr)
Ukrainian: обло́га f (oblóha), блока́да (uk) f (blokáda)
Urdu: محاصرہ (muhāsara), گھِیرا m (gherā)
Uzbek: muhosara (uz)
Vietnamese: sự bao vây (vi), sự phong tỏa (vi)
Welsh: gwarchae (cy) m

outhouse — see outhouse

lavatory — see toilet

Verb

siege (third-person singular simple present sieges, present participle sieging, simple past and past participle sieged)

(transitive, uncommon) To assault or blockade a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition; to besiege.
Synonym: besiege

Translations

besiege — see besiege

Anagrams

Geise, Giese

German

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈziːɡə/
Audio (Germany (Berlin)): (file)
Hyphenation: sie‧ge

Verb

siege

inflection of siegen:

Middle French

Noun

siege m (plural sieges)

siege (prolonged military assault or a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition)
seat (place where one sits)

Descendants

French: siège