siege

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The surrounding and blockading of a city, town, or fortress by an army attempting to capture it.
2. n. A prolonged period, as of illness: a siege of asthma.
3. n. Obsolete A seat, especially a throne.
4. v. To subject to a siege; besiege. See Synonyms at besiege.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A seat; a throne.
2. n. A fixed situation or position; station as to rank or class; specifically, of the heron, a station or an attitude of watchfulness for prey.
3. n. A camp; an encampment, especially as the seat of a besieging army.
4. n. The stationing or sitting down of an attacking force in a strong encampment before or around a fortified place, for the purpose of capturing it by continuous offensive operations, such as the breaching, undermining, or scaling of walls or other works, the destruction of its defenders, the cutting off of supplies, etc.; the act of besieging, or the state of being besieged; besiegement; beleaguerment: as, to push the siege; to undergo a siege; hence, figuratively, a prolonged or persistent endeavor to overcome resistance maintained with the aid of a shelter or cover of any kind.
5. n. Stool; excrement; fecal matter.
6. n. In mech.:
7. n. The floor of a glass-furnace.
8. n. A workmen's table or bench.
9. n. A flock, as of herons, bitterns, or cranes.
10. To lay siege to; besiege; beleaguer; beset.

Wiktionary

1. n. seat.
2. n. military action
3. v. transitive To assault a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition; to besiege.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete A seat; especially, a royal seat; a throne.
2. n. obsolete Hence, place or situation; seat.
3. n. obsolete Rank; grade; station; estimation.
4. n. obsolete Passage of excrements; stool; fecal matter.
5. n. The sitting of an army around or before a fortified place for the purpose of compelling the garrison to surrender; the surrounding or investing of a place by an army, and approaching it by passages and advanced works, which cover the besiegers from the enemy's fire. See the Note under Blockade.
6. n. Hence, a continued attempt to gain possession.
7. n. The floor of a glass-furnace.
8. n. A workman's bench.
9. v. rare To besiege; to beset.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place and isolates it while continuing to attack