siege

Etymology

From Middle English sege, from Old French sege, siege, seige (modern French siège), from Vulgar Latin *sēdicum, from Latin sēdicŭlum, sēdēcula (“small seat”), from Latin sēdēs (“seat”).

noun

1. (heading) Military action.
   1. (military) A prolonged military assault or a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition.
      Liu Pang's general Han Hsin won the strategic city of Hsing-yang for him, but Hsiang-Yü put Liu Pang under siege there. 2001, Alfred S. Bradford, With Arrow, Sword, and Spear: A History of Warfare in the Ancient World, Praeger, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 145
   2. (US) A period of struggle or difficulty, especially from illness.
   3. (figurative) A prolonged assault or attack.
      But once again Hodgson's men found a way to get the result they required and there is a real air of respectability about their campaign even though they had to survive a first-half siege from a Ukraine side desperate for the win they needed to progress. June 19, 2012, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport
2. (heading) A seat.
   1. (obsolete) A seat, especially as used by someone of importance or authority.
3. (obsolete) An ecclesiastical see.
4. (obsolete) The place where one has his seat; a home, residence, domain, empire.
5. The seat of a heron while looking out for prey.
6. A flock of heron.
7. (obsolete) A toilet seat.
8. (obsolete) The anus; the rectum.
9. (obsolete) Excrements, stool, fecal matter.
10. (obsolete) Rank; grade; station; estimation.
11. (obsolete) The floor of a glass-furnace.
12. (obsolete) A place with a toilet seat: an outhouse; a lavatory.

verb

1. (transitive, uncommon) To assault or blockade a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition; to besiege.