sett

Everyday

1. A sett is the home of a badger: a set of underground tunnels and rooms dug into the earth. tree →
2. A sett is also a rectangular stone block used to pave old streets (often wrongly called cobbles). tree →

In the lessons

In nature lessons in the UK and Ireland, badger setts are found in woods and hedges, with several entrances and big piles of dug earth; badgers and their setts are protected by law, so you must not disturb them. In old towns, roads made of setts are bumpy to ride a bike on.

Examples

• Badgers live in an underground sett. tree →
• We saw a badger come out of its sett at dusk. tree →
• The sett had five holes and big piles of earth. tree →
• It is against the law to damage a badger sett. tree →
• The old high street is paved with granite setts. tree →
• Bikes rattle over the stone setts. tree →
• Some setts are used by badgers for hundreds of years. tree →

Note

Spelt with double t to tell it apart from "set". It sounds the same as "set". Countable: setts. A fox's home is an earth or den; a rabbit's is a burrow or warren.

In Jewish tradition

Here it is just an old spelling form of the English verb "set," as in "Thou settest" meaning You set or place.

Interpretation. Tradition reads these verses as God arranging all things, from the mountains to the fates of the wicked, and putting a watch over the sea.

Examples

• Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that Thou settest a watch over me? (Writings JOB.7.12, JPS 1917) tree →
• Who by Thy strength settest fast the mountains, who art girded about with might; (Writings PSA.65.7, JPS 1917) tree →
• Surely Thou settest them in slippery places; Thou hurlest them down to utter ruin. (Writings PSA.73.18, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Spelt with double t to tell it apart from "set". It sounds the same as "set". Countable: setts. A fox's home is an earth or den; a rabbit's is a burrow or warren.