sett

noun

1. The system of tunnels that is the home of a badger.

   “But it is quite sad to reflect that some 4,500 badger setts were already wiped out using poisoned gas between 1975 and 1982. When you consider that an average sett can contain up to 15 animals, parents and cubs, it is easy to imagine the scale of suffering involved.”

2. The pattern of distinctive threads and yarns that make up the plaid of a Scottish tartan.

   “The Vestiarium gave setts for Lowland houses as well as Highland clans[…]and many families within the clans have their own setts to add to the clan tartans.[…]The clans and families are branching out with Dress and Hunting tartans, and the same sett—any sett—may be produced in dark "modern," lighter "ancient" or "muted" color schemes.”

3. The number of warp ends per inch in the cloth.

   “To achieve a balanced weave, the sett must be a little tighter than it would be for a twill.”

4. (England)The number of reeds or splits per inch – one half the number of ends per inch.
5. A small, square-cut piece of quarried stone used for paving and edging.

   “Very durable grey granite has been quarried near Aberdeen for more than 300 years, and blocked and dressed paving "setts," kerb and building stones, and monumental and other ornamental work of granite have long been exported from the district to all parts of the world.”

   “Three horses trotted abreast, with the clatter of hoofs on the granite setts, and the yellow, uproarious machine jolted violently behind them, […]”

   “The old market-square was not very large, a mere bare patch of granite setts, usually with a few fruit-stalls under a wall.”

   “This path, which consists of some 60,000 setts laid directly into the earth, is perhaps the single most noteworthy 'feature' of the design, lending the whole conception a feeling of unity and coherence, enhancing the sense that one has been absorbed into both the place and the journey through it.”

6. A mine or set of mines on lease.

   “[…] let the dialler, with the same instrument he uses underground, run a north and south line on the surface, in any convenient part of the sett, marking the extremities by well-fixed points, […]”

7. A collection of pumps in a mine.

   “After a delay of about three months, the 24 inches sett of pumps was ready for work, and sinking was resumed with one sett of pumps 18 inches in diameter in No. 1 pit, and one sett 24 inches in diameter in No. 2 pit; […]”

8. (alt-of, obsolete)Obsolete form of set (“group”)

   “The Father cannot stay any longer for the Portion, nor the Mother for a new Sett of Babies to play with […]”

verb

1. (transitive)To determine the ends per inch of the warp.

   “In my personal weaving and for these samples, I tend to sett Tencel a bit more tightly than the charts recommend. I prefer the hand of the fabric that results and don't find it to be stiff.”

2. (alt-of, obsolete)Obsolete spelling of set (particularly as a simple past and past participle).