beleaguer


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be·lea·guer

 (bĭ-lē′gər)
tr.v. be·lea·guered, be·lea·guer·ing, be·lea·guers
1. To harass; beset: We are beleaguered by problems.
2. To surround with troops; besiege: The enemy beleaguered the enclave.

[Probably Dutch belegeren : be-, around (from Middle Dutch bie; see ambhi in Indo-European roots) + leger, camp; see legh- in Indo-European roots.]

be·lea′guer·ment n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

beleaguer

(bɪˈliːɡə)
vb (tr)
1. to trouble persistently; harass
2. (Military) to lay siege to
[C16: from be- + leaguer1]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

be•lea•guer

(bɪˈli gər)

v.t.
1. to surround with military forces.
2. to beset, as with difficulties; harass: beleaguered taxpayers.
[1580–90; be- + leaguer siege < Dutch leger army, camp. See lair]
be•lea′guer•er, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

beleaguer


Past participle: beleaguered
Gerund: beleaguering

Imperative
beleaguer
beleaguer
Present
I beleaguer
you beleaguer
he/she/it beleaguers
we beleaguer
you beleaguer
they beleaguer
Preterite
I beleaguered
you beleaguered
he/she/it beleaguered
we beleaguered
you beleaguered
they beleaguered
Present Continuous
I am beleaguering
you are beleaguering
he/she/it is beleaguering
we are beleaguering
you are beleaguering
they are beleaguering
Present Perfect
I have beleaguered
you have beleaguered
he/she/it has beleaguered
we have beleaguered
you have beleaguered
they have beleaguered
Past Continuous
I was beleaguering
you were beleaguering
he/she/it was beleaguering
we were beleaguering
you were beleaguering
they were beleaguering
Past Perfect
I had beleaguered
you had beleaguered
he/she/it had beleaguered
we had beleaguered
you had beleaguered
they had beleaguered
Future
I will beleaguer
you will beleaguer
he/she/it will beleaguer
we will beleaguer
you will beleaguer
they will beleaguer
Future Perfect
I will have beleaguered
you will have beleaguered
he/she/it will have beleaguered
we will have beleaguered
you will have beleaguered
they will have beleaguered
Future Continuous
I will be beleaguering
you will be beleaguering
he/she/it will be beleaguering
we will be beleaguering
you will be beleaguering
they will be beleaguering
Present Perfect Continuous
I have been beleaguering
you have been beleaguering
he/she/it has been beleaguering
we have been beleaguering
you have been beleaguering
they have been beleaguering
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been beleaguering
you will have been beleaguering
he/she/it will have been beleaguering
we will have been beleaguering
you will have been beleaguering
they will have been beleaguering
Past Perfect Continuous
I had been beleaguering
you had been beleaguering
he/she/it had been beleaguering
we had been beleaguering
you had been beleaguering
they had been beleaguering
Conditional
I would beleaguer
you would beleaguer
he/she/it would beleaguer
we would beleaguer
you would beleaguer
they would beleaguer
Past Conditional
I would have beleaguered
you would have beleaguered
he/she/it would have beleaguered
we would have beleaguered
you would have beleaguered
they would have beleaguered
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Verb1.beleaguer - annoy persistentlybeleaguer - annoy persistently; "The children teased the boy because of his stammer"
bedevil, dun, rag, torment, frustrate, crucify - treat cruelly; "The children tormented the stuttering teacher"
2.beleaguer - surround so as to force to give upbeleaguer - surround so as to force to give up; "The Turks besieged Vienna"
attack, assail - launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with; "Hitler attacked Poland on September 1, 1939 and started World War II"; "Serbian forces assailed Bosnian towns all week"
seal off, blockade - impose a blockade on
ebb - hem in fish with stakes and nets so as to prevent them from going back into the sea with the ebb
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

beleaguer

verb
1. To trouble persistently from or as if from all sides:
2. To disturb by repeated attacks:
3. To surround with hostile troops:
Idiom: lay siege to .
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
piirittää

beleaguer

vtbelagern; (fig)umgeben
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in classic literature ?
And yet I cannot think that any Scottish or French rovers could land in such force as to beleaguer the fortalice.
Father, I come a suppliant to thee Both for myself and my allies who now With squadrons seven beneath their seven spears Beleaguer all the plain that circles Thebes.
For what dread of want or poverty that can reach or harass the student can compare with what the soldier feels, who finds himself beleaguered in some stronghold mounting guard in some ravelin or cavalier, knows that the enemy is pushing a mine towards the post where he is stationed, and cannot under any circumstances retire or fly from the imminent danger that threatens him?
Upon a high tower within the beleaguered city a man appeared.
Thar Ban and another by the side of the rostrum had been the first to note the coming of Carthoris, and it was with them he battled for possession of the red girl, while the others hastened to meet the host advancing from the beleaguered city.
Here is a crumbling wall that was old when Columbus discovered America; was old when Peter the Hermit roused the knightly men of the Middle Ages to arm for the first Crusade; was old when Charlemagne and his paladins beleaguered enchanted castles and battled with giants and genii in the fabled days of the olden time; was old when Christ and his disciples walked the earth; stood where it stands today when the lips of Memnon were vocal and men bought and sold in the streets of ancient Thebes!
The officers of the British army, and the loyal gentry of the province, most of whom were collected within the beleaguered town, had been invited to a masked ball; for it was the policy of Sir William Howe to hide the distress and danger of the period, and the desperate aspect of the siege, under an ostentation of festivity.
He walked from one end of the hall to the other, with the attitude of one who advances to charge an enemy, or to storm the breach of a beleaguered place, sometimes ejaculating to himself, sometimes addressing Athelstane, who stoutly and stoically awaited the issue of the adventure, digesting, in the meantime, with great composure, the liberal meal which he had made at noon, and not greatly interesting himself about the duration of his captivity, which he concluded, would, like all earthly evils, find an end in Heaven's good time.
Last of all came the catapults, those great engines of destruction which hurled two hundred pound bowlders with mighty force against the walls of beleaguered castles.
We were as secret as possible about it, but in some unfathomable way the friends ashore got word to the beleaguered Italians to keep their eyes open.
Twenty years earlier the means of resistance must have been far fewer, and the enemy in command of almost all the lines of access between the beleaguered villages; and, considering these things, I felt the sinister force of Harmon's phrase: "Most of the smart ones get away." But if that were the case, how could any combination of obstacles have hindered the flight of a man like Ethan Frome?
Such a black shrill city, combining the qualities of a smoky house and a scolding wife; such a gritty city; such a hopeless city, with no rent in the leaden canopy of its sky; such a beleaguered city, invested by the great Marsh Forces of Essex and Kent.