From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsiegesiege /siːdʒ/ ●●○ noun [countable, uncountable] 1 PMa situation in which an army or the police surround a place and try to gain control of it or force someone to come out of it The siege lasted almost four months. a three-day police siege at a remote country cottagesiege of the siege of Leningradend/lift/raise a siege (=end a siege)2 → lay siege to somebody/something3 → be under siege4 → siege mentality
Examples from the Corpus
siege• In the past, many companies have elected to settle rather than to endure such a siege.• The Cavaliers occupied Burghley House, but they were heavily outnumbered, and Cromwell forced them to surrender after a bitter siege.• The bloody siege of the ranch complex in Waco has already left at least six police and cult members dead.• Rebel troops end siege of Manila area.• The book is not an exhaustive account of all the sieges of the war.• Here the Navy is under siege for all kinds of moral and ethical improprieties.siege of• the 900-day-long Nazi siege of LeningradOrigin siege (1100-1200) Old French sege “seat, siege”, from Vulgar Latin sedicum, from Latin sedere “to sit” 