What is "to set about"

Set \Set\ (s[e^]t), v. i.

1. To pass below the horizon; to go down; to decline; to sink out of sight; to come to an end.

   Ere the weary sun set in the west.
   --Shak.

   Thus this century sets with little mirth, and the next is likely to arise with more mourning.
   --Fuller.

2. To fit music to words. [Obs.]
   --Shak.

3. To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant. ``To sow dry, and set wet.''
   --Old Proverb.

4. To be fixed for growth; to strike root; to begin to germinate or form; as, cuttings set well; the fruit has set well (i. e., not blasted in the blossom).

5. To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened.

   A gathering and serring of the spirits together to resist, maketh the teeth to set hard one against another.
   --Bacon.

6. To congeal; to concrete; to solidify; -- of cements, glues, gels, concrete, substances polymerizing into plastics, etc.

   That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set.
   --Boyle.

7. To have a certain direction in motion; to flow; to move on; to tend; as, the current sets to the north; the tide sets to the windward.

8. To begin to move; to go out or forth; to start; -- now followed by out.

   The king is set from London.
   --Shak.

9. To indicate the position of game; -- said of a dog; as, the dog sets well; also, to hunt game by the aid of a setter.

10. To apply one's self; to undertake earnestly; -- now followed by out.

    If he sets industriously and sincerely to perform the commands of Christ, he can have no ground of doubting but it shall prove successful to him.
    --Hammond.

11. To fit or suit one; to sit; as, the coat sets well. Note: [Colloquially used, but improperly, for sit.] Note: The use of the verb set for sit in such expressions as, the hen is setting on thirteen eggs; a setting hen, etc., although colloquially common, and sometimes tolerated in serious writing, is not to be approved. To set about, to commence; to begin. To set forward, to move or march; to begin to march; to advance. To set forth, to begin a journey. To set in.

    1. To begin; to enter upon a particular state; as, winter set in early.

    2. To settle one's self; to become established. ``When the weather was set in to be very bad.''
       --Addison.

    3. To flow toward the shore; -- said of the tide. To set off.

       1. To enter upon a journey; to start.

       2. (Typog.) To deface or soil the next sheet; -- said of the ink on a freshly printed sheet, when another sheet comes in contact with it before it has had time to dry. To set on or To set upon.

          1. To begin, as a journey or enterprise; to set about.

             He that would seriously set upon the search of truth.
             --Locke.

          2. To assault; to make an attack. --Bacon. Cassio hath here been set on in the dark. --Shak. To set out, to begin a journey or course; as, to set out for London, or from London; to set out in business;to set out in life or the world. To set to, to apply one's self to. To set up.

             1. To begin business or a scheme of life; as, to set up in trade; to set up for one's self.

             2. To profess openly; to make pretensions.

                Those men who set up for mortality without regard to religion, are generally but virtuous in part.
                --Swift.

About \A*bout"\, adv.

1. On all sides; around.

   'Tis time to look about.
   --Shak.

2. In circuit; circularly; by a circuitous way; around the outside; as, a mile about, and a third of a mile across.

3. Here and there; around; in one place and another.

   Wandering about from house to house.
   --1 Tim. v. 13.

4. Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence, in quality, manner, degree, etc.; as, about as cold; about as high; -- also of quantity, number, time. ``There fell . . . about three thousand men.''
   --Exod. xxii. 28.

5. To a reserved position; half round; in the opposite direction; on the opposite tack; as, to face about; to turn one's self about.

   To bring about, to cause to take place; to accomplish.

   To come about, to occur; to take place. See under Come.

   To go about, To set about, to undertake; to arrange; to prepare. ``Shall we set about some revels?''
   --Shak.

   Round about, in every direction around.