setts

Noun

sett (plural setts)

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.2006, David Kavanagh, A Country Pillow Book, page 69

   Synonyms:

   cete

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,"...2012, J. Charles Thompson, “Introduction”, in James Grant, Scottish Tartans in Full Color
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.2026, Malynda Allen, “Flights of Fancy”, in Handwoven, volume XLVII, number 1, page 45

   Synonyms:

   sley

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.1911, “Aberdeen”, in Hugh Chisholm, editor, The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information, 11th edition, volume I, Cambridge, Mass.; New York, N.Y....

   Synonyms:

   Belgian block

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, […]1857, The Mining Magazine, page 128

See all 8 meanings of sett