# sett

Pronunciation: say "SET" /sɛt/

## Noun

1. The system of connected underground tunnels that forms a badger's home.
   - Simple: The underground network of tunnels and chambers where a badger lives.
   - _The badgers had occupied the same sett for several generations._
   - _Researchers watched the foxes that sometimes share a badger's sett._
2. A small block of quarried stone, cut square, that is laid to pave roads or to edge paths.
   - Simple: A small block of stone with flat sides, used to pave roads and paths.
   - _The lane was paved with worn granite setts that glistened after rain._
   - _A mason trimmed each sett to fit snugly against its neighbors._
3. The repeating design that a particular arrangement of colored threads produces in a Scottish tartan.
   - Simple: The repeating pattern of colored stripes and threads that gives a Scottish tartan its design.
   - _The mill recorded every clan sett in a leather-bound pattern book._
   - _Collectors can date a kilt by studying the sett of its tartan._
4. The number of warp ends per inch in a piece of woven cloth.
   - Simple: The number of lengthwise threads in each inch of woven cloth.
   - _The pattern called for a sett of sixty ends per inch._
   - _Loosening the sett gave the linen a softer, more open weave._
5. The density of slots in a loom's reed, measured per inch and equal to half the density of lengthwise threads. *(England)*
   - Simple: The number of slots in a loom's reed for each inch: half the number of lengthwise threads.
   - _The draft specified a sett of thirty splits per inch._
   - _Doubling the threads through each dent halves the sett relative to the ends._
6. A mine or group of mines held and worked under lease.
   - Simple: A mine, or group of mines, that someone rents in order to work.
   - _The miners renewed their sett when the old lease expired._
   - _Royalties on the sett were paid to the landowner each quarter._
7. A collection of pumps installed and working together within a mine.
   - Simple: A group of pumps working together to drain water from a mine.
   - _The mine's sett ran day and night to hold back the rising water._
   - _A failure in the sett left the deepest galleries flooded._

## Verb

8. Obsolete spelling of set. *(obsolete)* — Obsolete spelling of set (particularly as a simple past and past participle).
   - Simple: Obsolete spelling of set. Older writers used it where we now write "set".

## Origin

This is a variant of the word "set," spelled differently to distinguish its various technical senses.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sett (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).