set in

See also: setin and set-in

English

Verb

set in (third-person singular simple present sets in, present participle setting in, simple past and past participle set in)

1. To take root, become established.

   That was the point at which the rot set in.

   • 1941 November, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 484:

     [...] but rain set in, driven by a furious westerly gale, [...].

   • 1960 March, “The January blizzard in the North-East of Scotland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 137:

     By the afternoon it seemed as if the storm had passed and that frost was setting in; but in the evening the wind rose to gale force, bringing telegraph poles down like skittles and tangling power and telephone lines.

   • 1964 September, “Motive Power Miscellany: BR Workshops”, in Modern Railways, page 220:

     Work on anti-frost precautions on diesel locomotives is to be speeded up to ensure that most if not all locomotives have been dealt with before the winter sets in.

Translations

to take root

• Italian: attecchire (it)

See also

• inset
• set-in sleeve

References

• “set in”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• Stein, Tiens, inset, neist, nites, senti, sient, snite, stein, tines, tsine