siege
[noun]
Synonyms: bout, go

---

Related Words: attack, onslaught, seizure, spell

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

siege /siːdʒ/ noun [uncountable and countable]
[Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old French; Origin: sege 'seat, siege', from Vulgar Latin sedicum, from Latin sedere 'to sit']

1. a situation in which an army or the police surround a place and try to gain control of it or force someone to come out of it:
The siege lasted almost four months.
a three-day police siege at a remote country cottage
siege of
the siege of Leningrad
end/lift/raise a siege (=end a siege)

2. lay siege to somebody/something
a) if the army or police lay siege to a place, they start a siege against it:
In June 1176, King Richard laid siege to Limoges.
b) if you lay siege to someone, you do everything you can to try and get them to talk to you:
Then he set to work laying siege to her with letters.

3. be under siege
a) to be surrounded by an army in a siege
b) to be being criticized, attacked, or threatened all the time:
The TV station has been under siege from irate viewers phoning in to complain.

4. siege mentality the feeling among a group of people that they are surrounded by enemies and must do everything they can to protect themselves

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

siege
noun
I. when an army surrounds a town
ADJ. long, prolonged
VERB + SIEGE lay The English forces laid siege to the city of Tournai.
withstand This fortress could withstand a siege for years if necessary.
lift, raise, relieve (= arrive to help the people in a siege) The royal forces marched south to lift the siege of Donnington Castle.
SIEGE + VERB last The siege lasted two years.
SIEGE + NOUN warfare | engine
PREP. at a/the ~ wounded at the siege of Edinburgh Castle in 1573
during a/the ~, under ~ At the very end of the war, Prague again came under siege.
~ of

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

siege
II. when the police, etc. surround a building
ADJ. four-day, ten-hour, etc. | armed, gun, police
SIEGE + VERB end The seven-hour armed siege at the school ended peacefully.
PREP. during a/the ~ The terrorists were shot dead during the siege of the embassy.
PHRASES a state of siege The police placed the city centre under a virtual state of siege.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲