set to meaning (colloquial): definition, quotations

set-to

nounalso spelled set-to

[…] we two had never had a serious quarrel, though I had had many a set-to with other lads, and had twice over given Bob Chowne black eyes.1887, George Manville Fenn, Devon Boys:

verb

Ambitransitive To begin something with determination; to commence a long and difficult task or project.

Having laid out the picnic, the hungry boys set to with gusto.
VVhen thou ſetſt to the vvork, look up tovvard Heaven, let thine eie lead thee as neer as it can; remember that there is thine Everlaſting Reſt; […]1649, Richard Baxter, “The Abstract or Sum of All, for the Use of the Weak”, in The Saints Everlasting Rest: Or, A Treatise of the Blessed State of the Saints in Their Enjoyment of God in Glory. […], London: […] Rob[ert] White, for Thomas Underhil and Francis Tyton, […], →OCLC, part IV (Containing a Directory for the Getting and Keeping of the Heart in Heaven: […]), section 1, page 788:

1 more example

Hungrily, by firelight, we set to with damper and cold goat washed down by hot tea.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 239:

Archaic To fight.