siege

lay siege to

To surround and attack a place (often a city or building) with armed troops. A: "The army has laid siege to our town!" B: "I knew we should have evacuated sooner!"
See also: lay, siege

siege mentality

The belief that one is constantly under attack and must protect oneself from hostility. Don't be surprised if Ned reacts to you with anger—he has a siege mentality that makes it difficult for him to see anything positively. Many people living in that war-torn country have developed a siege mentality.
See also: mentality, siege

under siege

1. Literally, surrounded by the armed forces of the military or police, unable to leave or escape. The city remained under siege for nearly three months. By the time they finally surrendered, their citizens were starved nearly half to death.
2. Facing increasing pressure or difficulty. The company's stocks have been under siege as news of the scandal continues to spook investors.
3. Subject to criticisms or personal attacks from various different sources or angles. I've been under siege lately, with people from around the company coming to complain about the software issue.
See also: siege
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

lay ˈsiege to something

surround a building, especially in order to speak to or question the person or people living or working there: The press and paparazzi laid siege to the star’s London flat in the hope of getting a photograph of her.
A siege is a military operation in which an army tries to capture a town by surrounding it and stopping the supply of food, etc. to the people inside.
See also: lay, siege, something

under ˈsiege


1 surrounded by an army or the police: The city has now been under siege for more than three weeks.
2 being criticized all the time or put under pressure by problems, questions, etc: The dollar came under siege on Monday, falling to its lowest for three years.
See also: siege
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • lay siege to
  • lay siege to something
  • take (someone, something, or some place) by storm
  • take by storm
  • take somebody/something by storm
  • take something by storm
  • take somewhere by storm
  • close (in) around (someone or something)
  • close around
  • close in
References in periodicals archive
In other news, "Rainbow Six Siege" new season, Operation Phantom Sight, is set to launch on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Ubisoft Planning To Introduce Cross-Play To 'Rainbow Six Siege'
Worse, their memory is being besmirched through government's tagging of them as part of the more than 900 'terrorists' killed in the siege.
'We will not forget...'
de' Mussi's account is probably secondhand and is uncorroborated; however, he seems, in general, to be a reliable source, and as a Piacenzian he would have had access to eye-witnesses of the siege. Several considerations incline me to trust his account: this was probably not the only, nor the first, instance of apparent attempts to transmit disease by hurling biological material into besieged cities; it was within the technical capabilities of besieging armies of the time; and it is consistent with medieval notions of disease causality (22).
Biological warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa. (Historical Review)
By deciding not to explore what actually happens to the people who are interned, or the profound conflicts in politics and national identity for Arab Americans (and, given the anti-foreign backlash, for many immigrant groups), Siege buttresses the notion that politics and identity are static and unresponsive to changes in the collective experiences of specific racial or ethnic groups.
Can context trump content? Gary Delgado watches the siege to see if a racist movie can be prophetic. (To the Point)
From April 16 onwards, a few people were allowed to escape the siege, first two ill Franciscans and the four nuns, then some Palestinian youths, followed by the Armenian monks, and some wounded or dead Palestinians.
Bethlehem and Church of Nativity. (Israel)
All of the pseudoclinical forays into alleged teen ghastliness in Parents Under Siege are set quite didactically in relief beside the authors' serene Buddhist spiritual pretensions.
Teen-Demon Tracts: Why baby-boomer parents fear their children
Some of the proceeds of Siege's sale will be used to purchase four new yearlings to race in 2000 and to improve the luxury facilities at Ascot for members of the club.
Siege sold to Dubai; Deal is coup for Royal Ascot Racing Club
In the final three chapters there is a move away from this descriptive approach in order to confront the thematic use of sieges as figures for the nature of history, salvation, temptation, and love in works as varied as the redactions of the sieges of Troy and Jerusalem, and allegorical works.
The Medieval Siege: Theme and Image in Middle English Romance
For example, during the Freemen siege, all TPIs were fully briefed before and debriefed after each contact.
Third-party intermediaries and crisis negotiations
At the beginning of the siege, all those hills and mountains - Trebevic, Jahorina, Igman, Bjelasnica - became artillery positions.
Trees for Sarajevo
In "Blockage Diary Addenda: Notes Under Siege" Ginzburg recounts, in hindsight, how they bad all miscalculated "how it would be," how historically the boundary between lies and truth becomes blurred.
Blockade Diary
Nevertheless, A Sense of Siege makes clear that the most exigent problems lie in the Muslim world and in the here and now.
A Sense of Siege: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West
All this has been preserved, to some degree, despite the war and the siege. Every day people are killed and wounded; in one recent week, thirty-one people were killed and 194 wounded.
Sarajevo's reproach
The brand director is known to be around the majors of the eSports competitions for "Rainbow Six Siege."
Ubisoft Focuses On eSports, Avoids Singleplayer Campaigns For 'Rainbow Six'