v. Now dial. Also 6, 9 fore-. [OE. forsęttan, f. FOR- pref.1 + sęttan to SET; = MHG. versetzen. OE. had forsittan in same sense.]

1

  1.  trans. To beset (lit. and fig.); to bar (a way; with dat. of person); to surround, invest (a city, etc.); to waylay, entrap (a person or animal).

2

c. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xiv. [xix.] (1891), 212. Þæt heo him þone heofonlican weȝ forsette & fortynde.

3

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 77.

        Þenne gotȝ forth my gomeȝ to þe grete streeteþ,
& forsetteþ on vche a syde þe cete aboute.

4

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 1815.

        Ffor-setten byfore, & eke byhynde,
Wyþ crokes ilkon oþer gan bynde.

5

a. 1400[?].  Morte Arth., 1896. Thay hade at ȝone foreste forsette vs the wayes.

6

c. 1430.  Chev. Assigne, 251. Thow haste for-sette þe ȝonge qwene.

7

c. 1470.  Hardyng, Chron., CLXXI. iv.

        But sir Gilbert Midelton theim mette
And sir Walter Selby, misruled Knightes,
A litell fro Duresme their waye forsett
Gilbert Midelton robbed yt cardinalles.

8

1577.  Holinshed, Chron., I. Scotl. 437/1. The Earle of Angus caused the Castell to be forsette.

9

1598.  Manwood, Lawes Forest, xx. § 4 (1615), 171/1. They might hunt & chase the wild beasts of the Forrest towards the Forrest, so that they do not forestall nor foreset them in their returne towardes the Forrest againe.

10

1871.  Daily News, 13 Aug. The watcher and policeman then ‘foreset’ the defendants, whom they captured.

11

1882.  Lanc. Gloss., For-set (Furness), to waylay.

12

  2.  Sc. To overburden or overpower with work.

13

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xxii. 11.

        Forsett is ay the falconis kynd,
Bot euir the mittane is hard in mynd.

14

  Hence † Forset sb. Obs. ? A stratagem.

15

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 2912.

        Ne schal nought Brenne bede me trypet
Þat y ne schal turne hym wiþ a forset.

16