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BESIEGING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place and isolates it while continuing to attack
Synonyms:
beleaguering; besieging; military blockade; siege
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("besieging" is a kind of...):
blockade; encirclement (a war measure that isolates some area of importance to the enemy)
Domain category:
armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)
Instance hyponyms:
Alamo (a siege and massacre at a mission in San Antonio in 1836; Mexican forces under Santa Anna besieged and massacred American rebels who were fighting to make Texas independent of Mexico)
Atlanta; battle of Atlanta (a siege in which Federal troops under Sherman cut off the railroads supplying the city and then burned it; 1864)
Bataan; Corregidor (the peninsula and island in the Philippines where Japanese forces besieged American forces in World War II; United States forces surrendered in 1942 and recaptured the area in 1945)
Dien Bien Phu (the French military base fell after a siege by Vietnam troops that lasted 56 days; ended the involvement of France in Indochina in 1954)
Lucknow (the British residents of Lucknow were besieged by Indian insurgents during the Indian Mutiny (1857))
Orleans; siege of Orleans (a long siege of Orleans by the English was relieved by Joan of Arc in 1429)
Petersburg; Petersburg Campaign (the final campaign of the American Civil War (1864-65); Union forces under Grant besieged and finally defeated Confederate forces under Lee)
Pleven; Plevna (the town was taken from the Turks by the Russians in 1877 after a siege of 143 days)
siege of Syracuse; Syracuse (the Athenian siege of Syracuse (415-413 BC) was eventually won by Syracuse)
siege of Syracuse; Syracuse (the Roman siege of Syracuse (214-212 BC) was eventually won by the Romans who sacked the city (killing Archimedes))
siege of Vicksburg; Vicksburg (a decisive battle in the American Civil War (1863); after being besieged for nearly seven weeks the Confederates surrendered)
siege of Yorktown; Yorktown (in 1781 the British under Cornwallis surrendered after a siege of three weeks by American and French troops; the surrender ended the American Revolution)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb besiege
