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SET UPON
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I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Assail or attack on all sides:
Example:
The zebra was beset by leopards
Synonyms:
beset; set upon
Classified under:
Verbs of fighting, athletic activities
Hypernyms (to "set upon" is one way to...):
assail; assault; attack; set on (attack someone physically or emotionally)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Context examples:
Knave! my dogs shall be set upon you; but, meanwhile, stand out of my path, and stop me at your peril!
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The tea-things were set upon the table, and the kettle was boiling on the hob.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The seal of his dependence on man had been set upon him in that early day when he turned his back on the Wild and crawled to Grey Beaver's feet to receive the expected beating.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The king, who, as I before observed, was a prince of excellent understanding, would frequently order that I should be brought in my box, and set upon the table in his closet: he would then command me to bring one of my chairs out of the box, and sit down within three yards distance upon the top of the cabinet, which brought me almost to a level with his face.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
If he might not return to Beaulieu within the year, and if his brother's dogs were to be set upon him if he showed face upon Minstead land, then indeed he was adrift upon earth.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was indeed I and the black cook, both from the ship 'La Rose de Gloire,' of Southampton, who did set upon the Flanders merchant and rob him of his spicery and his mercery, for which, as we well know, you hold a warrant against us.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
