Adjacent Words

Beleaguer definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BELE'AGUER, v.t. belee'ger. To besiege; to block up; to surround with an army, so as to preclude escape.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: annoy persistently; "The children teased the boy because of his stammer" [syn: tease, badger, pester, bug, beleaguer]
2: surround so as to force to give up; "The Turks besieged Vienna" [syn: besiege, beleaguer, surround, hem in, circumvent]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-guered; beleaguering) Etymology: Dutch belegeren, from be- (akin to Old English be-) + leger camp; akin to Old High German legar bed — more at lair Date: 1587 1. besiege 2. trouble, harass <beleaguered parents> <an economically beleaguered city> • beleaguerment noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 besiege. 2 vex; harass. Etymology: Du. belegeren camp round (as BE-, leger a camp)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beleaguer Be*lea"guer, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beleaguered; p. pr. & vb. n. Beleaguering.] [D. belegeren (akin to G. belagern, Sw. bel["a]gra, Dan. beleire); pref. be- = E. be- + leger bed, camp, army, akin to E. lair. See Lair.] To surround with an army so as to preclude escape; to besiege; to blockade. The wail of famine in beleaguered towns. --Longfellow. Syn: To block up; environ; invest; encompass.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Besiege, invest, beset, blockade, lay siege to. 2. Beset, encompass, encumber, block up, environ, surround, obstruct.

Moby Thesaurus

annoy, bedevil, beset, besiege, blockade, bound, box in, cage, chamber, close in, compass, contain, coop, coop in, coop up, cordon, cordon off, corral, encircle, enclose, encompass, enshrine, envelop, fence in, gnaw, harass, harry, hedge in, hem in, house in, impound, imprison, incarcerate, include, invest, jail, kennel, lay siege to, leaguer, mew, mew up, pen, pen in, pester, plague, pocket, quarantine, rail in, shrine, shut in, shut up, siege, soften up, stable, storm, surround, tease, wall in, wrap, yard, yard up