beset

Etymology

From Middle English besetten, bisetten, from Old English besettan (“to beset; set beside; set near; appoint; place; own; possess”), from Proto-Germanic *bisatjaną (“to set near; set around”), equivalent to be- + set. Cognate with Saterland Frisian besätte (“to occupy”), West Frisian besette (“to occupy”), Dutch bezetten (“to sit in; occupy; fill”), German Low German besetten (“to occupy”), German besetzen (“to seize; occupy; garrison”), Danish besætte (“to occupy; obsess”), Swedish besätta (“to fill; occupy; beset”).

verb

1. (transitive) To surround or hem in.
   Vegetatively it is the nearest to H. translucens with its oblong-lanceolate leaves, with the margins and keel beset with pellucid teeth, but it differs and is characterised by the greyish-black quadrantly positioned globose flowers; […] 1985, Charles L. Scott, The Genus Haworthia (Liliaceae): A Taxonomic Revision, page 80
2. (transitive, sometimes figurative) To attack or assail, especially from all sides.
   Track and platforms have been upgraded, but refurbished trains from Vivarail have been beset by software problems. . July 28 2021, Paul Clifton, “£67 million Isle of Wight line extension submitted to DfT”, in RAIL, number 936, page 21
3. (transitive) To decorate something with jewels etc.
4. (nautical) Of a ship, to get trapped by ice.