set, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

set v.

[? SE set upon]

1. (also set at) to target a potential victim, to survey before robbing.

1727		J. Gay Beggar’s Opera III iv: Money may be pick’d upon the Road. Meet me there, and I’ll give you the Hint who is worth Setting.
1732		Progress of a Rake 22: The Rascals had a House of Call / [...] / That when they ’spy’d a Man a fretting, / They were such ready Rogues at Setting, / They cry, Your Bus’ness, Sir, be brief.
1792		New Cheats of London Exposed 24: bullies [...] Their rendezvous is among bawds and whores; they eat their bread and fight their battles; hector and insult their cullies, gather sometimes their contribution and occasionally pimp, betray and set .
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 18/1: Every one would set at him, and win his money, and then ‘turn up,’ as he had done.
1890		Bruce Herald (Otago) 13 May 4/2: He was carrying home a big bag of money. Two ruffians watched him, and ‘set’ his cab, saw him nodding and jumped in.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 43: ‘Maybe he’s settin’ you.’ ‘Naw, Knothole don’t nuts around since the heat give him the beatin’.’.

2. (Aus.) of a (young) woman, to target a man as a potential husband/lover.

1885

Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Apr. 22/3: She saw Maria talking to a young man at the front gate one evening, about six weeks ago, and she set that young man instanter. By little allusions to a certain bank-book, the well schooled Maria contrived to have that galoot round their front gate pretty frequent.

3. (also set on) to attack verbally, to think little of.

1894		Essex Co. Standard 6 Oct. 7/2: Defendant denied this [i.e making threats of violence], saying that two gentleman [...] had ‘set on him’.
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 1 Dec. 131: I made up my mind that I wouldn’t let Howard-Snook set on young Arthur.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 SET, TO — To brawl; to make arrangements.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 238/2: set – set – to, quarrel. have a set on someone – have a quarrel with him.

4. (Aus. gambling) in two-up, to finish organising a round of betting.

1930

L. Lower Here’s Luck 44: ‘Seven and eightpence. Set the centre! Set the centre!’.

5. (Aus.) to place a bet on (with a bookmaker) .

1915		Drew & Evans Grafter (1922) 103: ‘I’ll take twelve to six,’ he mumbled faintly. He was set instantly.
1935		C. Drew ‘Thirsty’s Christmas Box’ in Bulletin 25 Dec. 41/1: ‘It’s all about a little five. I’ll take six pounds to four.’ Someone set him a fiver’s worth, and the big man quickly covered the money.
1966		J. Holledge Great Aust. Gamble 39: Before a meeting for which he had ‘set’ one of his charges, he generally slept the night in the horse’s stall so it would not fret [ibid.] 78: [I]n 1889 Allen set a good galloper named Spade Guinea for the Melbourne Cup .

6. (Aus.) vtr. of a bookmaker, to accept a bet.

1996

J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 306: ‘We thought maybe just the old faithful plonkers we’d been used to would have a go. Not so. We set everyone from singers to jugglers to directors to agents’.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

set fire to (v.)

1. to cause suspicion.

1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 25: It only needed that cry from across the way to set fire to me. I saw, in a word, that I was to be attacked.
1959		E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 139: Naw. Set fire to the whole house. Suspicious people live in apartment houses.

2. see fire v.² (5)

set going (v.)

see get going v.

set horses (v.) [i.e. fig. hitching one’s horses to the same pole]

(US black) to get along in a friendly manner.

1935

Z.N. Hurston Mules and Men (1995) 150: Me and him ain’t never gointer set hawses.

set in a crack (v.) [? the speedy crack of a whip]

(N.Z.) to settle something quickly.

1935		Mitchell & Strong in Partridge Sl. Today and Yesterday 286: [The] following [was] employed by those who served in the [Great] War – set in a crack, to settle (a matter) quickly.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 98/1: set in a crack to settle something quickly, perhaps a wager in two-up, or to be well off or fortunate.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

set mouth on (v.)

see under mouth n.

set off (v.)

(US prison) to deny a prisoner parole; thus set-off n., the denial of parole and the period before another request can be heard.

1972		US Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary 194: Let me skip down part of his letter where he says, ‘Why the set off?’ Really wish I could answer that, Gary, but I cannot.
1974		Federal supplement. [First Series.] 702: When an inmate is ‘set off’, his file is not again reviewed by the Parole Board until near the expiration of the ‘set off’ period.
1984		in Journal of Offender Counseling 78: I haven’t given anyone any shit and I still got a three year set off (parole denied and ineligible for another hearing for three years).
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Set Off: To be denied parole for a period of time. (TX).
2007		B. Delgado Gangs, Prisons, Parole 445: In the past the maximum time a prisoner could be set-off was for 1 year before he would be eligible for parole again.

set one’s child a-crying (v.) [the watchman’s rattle was the predecessor of the policeman’s whistle]

for a watchman, to ‘spring his rattle’, i.e. to sound an alarm.

1825

C.M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I 382: [...] too well illuminated to allow the spreeish [...] to bolt away with safety when a charley thinks proper to set his child a crying³. [...] [note] ³ Springing his rattle.

set oneself back (v.)

to spend money.

1938

D. Runyon ‘Little Miss Marker’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 301: Sorrowful never sets himself back more than about ten bobs per week.

set on fire (v.)

see under fire n.

set on one’s ass (v.) [ass n. (2)]

(drugs) to render unconscious from excessive drug consumption.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 253: set on (one’s) ass Be excessively high.

set over (v.)

(US Und.) to kill, to murder.

1929		A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 39: Blackie, there, set a guy over, too.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 166: Set Over.–To kill, probably since the victim is set over or apart.
1940		W.R. Burnett High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 339: He’d have set me over sure if I’d’ve come out.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

set someone back (v.)

(orig. US) to cost, e.g. her coat must have set him back a few quid.

1899		Ade Fables in Sl. (1902) 131: Daughter was on the Lawn, seated under a Canopy that had set Father back thirty-two Dollars.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 128: What will it set me back?
1910		Wodehouse Gentleman of Leisure Ch. xiii: Excuse me. How much did it [i.e. a suit] set youse back, boss?
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 116: How much’ll it set me back?
1936		M. Harrison All the Trees were Green 304: Those sparklers must’ve set you back a bit.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 194: A gold cigarette box that sets him back a gob in the same place.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 11: It had set me back ten guineas.
1969		R. Rendell Best Man To Die (1981) 14: It’s a real grand job that record-player [...] Must have set you back a bit.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 70: Where ja get that? [i.e.a car] Wodid that set ya back?
1996		(con. 1949) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 168: That suit you’re wearing [...] It must have set you back fifty bucks.
2000		Guardian Rev. 1 Jan. 14: A beer will set you back £6 in a bar.

set (something) on (v.) (US black)

to tell, to impose facts upon.

1965

(con. 1930s) R. Wright Lawd Today 60: Yeah, this is good! Old Doc’s setting on somebody!

set up

see separate entries.

In exclamations

set it alight! (also set alight!)

(N.Z.) get a move on! hurry up!

1945		E.G. Webber Johnny Enzed in the Middle East 31: Pious injunctions [to the gharry driver] to ‘yella’, ‘igri’, ‘hoop it along’ and ‘set it alight’ [DNZE].
1971		P. Newton Ten Thousand Dogs 169: Set alight: A slang term referring to the act of starting a dog on its run [DNZE].