See Also:

set(3) (iou)



set noun2. Also sett. LME.
[Old French sette from Latin secta SECT noun1, infl. by & merging with SET noun1. In branch II perh. partly due to Middle Low German gesette.]
I. Of people.
A religious body, a sect. LME-M16.
A number, company, or group of people associated by community of status, habits, occupations, or interests; a social group, esp. of a select or exclusive character. LME.
Bloomsbury set, jet set, smart set, etc.
Sir W. Scott A set of smugglers, gipsies, and other desperadoes. C. Connolly He moved in a fast set of hard-smoking and hard-swearing cronies. M. Bradbury All the girls..in her set round the village are buying Miele dishwashers.
The number of couples required to perform a country dance or square dance. E18.
A subdivision of pupils or students for instruction on a particular subject, freq. constituted according to ability. L18.
A (regular) meeting of a gang or group in a particular urban locality, esp. a party; the place where such a group meets. US colloq. M20.
II. Of things.
A complete collection of the individual pieces or items belonging together, as composing a suite of furniture, a service of china, a clothing outfit, etc.; a collection of instruments, tools, or machines customarily used together in a particular operation; a complete apparatus employed for some specific purpose. LME.
chess set, duchesse set, giving-set, pumpset, starter set, twin set, etc. break a set: see BREAK verb.
Saki A liqueur glass, one out of a set of seven that would be impossible to match. R. Lardner A 'set' of jewelry consisting of an opal brooch, a bracelet of opals.., and an opal ring. A. Bleasdale A complete and matching set of pyjamas, top and bottom.
b. A piece of electrical or electronic apparatus, as a telephone, a telegraph receiver or transmitter, a radio or television receiver, etc. L19.
handset etc.
B. Vine If you want television..why don't you buy a set of your own?
a. A number of musical instruments arranged to play together. Now only, a suite of bells to be rung together. M16.
b. An assemblage of pipes constituting bagpipes or (formerly) an organ. L18.
set of bagpipes.
A string of beads. M16-M17.
A collection of volumes by one author, dealing with one subject, belonging to one department of literature, or issued in a series; a complete series of the parts of a periodical publication. Also, a series of prints by the same engraver. L16.
Ld Macaulay All the Edinburgh Reviews are being bound, so that we shall have a complete set up to the forthcoming number. L. Hellman There were no books other than a set of Prescott.
A number of things connected in temporal or spatial succession or by natural production or formation. E17.
Sir W. Scott A new set of words to the old tune.
The complement of teeth which a person or animal has; a pair of plates holding artificial teeth. L17.
A team of (usu. six) horses. Now rare or obsolete. L17.
A number of things grouped together according to a system of classification or conceived as forming a whole. L17.
a set of steps: see STEP noun1 9b.
Goldsmith An exact plan..of Nature's operations in this minute set of creatures. M. Edgeworth The set of notions which he had acquired from his education.
A series of buildings or apartments associated in use; esp. a suite of apartments let as lodgings. E18.
C. P. Snow The room was cosier..than in most college sets.
The series of movements or figures that make up a square dance or country dance, esp. the quadrille. E18.
running set: see RUNNING adjective.
Math. & Logic. An assemblage or collection of (real or notional) entities which either satisfy specified conditions or else are specified individually. M19.
empty set: containing no elements. universal set: see UNIVERSAL adjective.
A number of pieces of jazz or popular music performed in sequence by a musician or group. M20.
A fixed number of repetitions of a particular body-building exercise, performed as a unit. M20.
Comb.: set theory the branch of mathematics that deals with sets without regard to the nature of the elements of which they are composed; an axiomatization which allows of the discussion of sets; set-theoretic, set-theoretical adjectives of or pertaining to set theory; set-theoretically adverb by means of or as regards set theory; set-top box a box-shaped signal decoder for viewing cable or satellite television or giving television access to the Internet, or for converting a digital television signal to analogue for viewing on a conventional set.