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[setting-up]{adj.} Done early in the morning to make you fresh and feel strong for the day. •/Tom jumped out of bed and did his setting-up exercises./ Compare: DAILY DOZEN.

[settle a score] also [wipe out an old score] To hurt (someone) in return for a wrong or loss. •/John settled an old score with Bob by beating him./ Compare: GET BACK AT, GET EVEN.

[settle down]{v.} 1. To live more quietly and sensibly; have a regular place to live and a regular job; stop acting wildly or carelessly, especially by growing up. •/John will settle down after he gets a job and gets married./ 2. To become quiet, calm, or comfortable. •/Father settled down with the newspaper./ •/The house settled down for the night after the children were put to bed./ •/The teacher told the students to settle down and study the lesson./

[settle for]{v.} To be satisfied with (less) agree to; accept. •/Jim wanted $200 for his old car, but he settled for $100./

[settle on]{v. phr.} To decide which one to choose among various alternatives. •/My parents have been debating what kind of a car to get and have finally settled on a BMW from Germany./

[settle up]{v. phr.} To pay up; conclude monetary or other transactions. •/"Let’s settle up," Carol’s attorney said, when she sued Don for a hefty sum of money after their divorce./

[set to]{v.} 1. To make a serious beginning. •/Charlie took a helping of turkey, grabbed his knife and fork, and set to./ 2. To start to fight. •/One man called the other a liar and they set to./

[set to music]{v. phr.} To compose a musical accompaniment to verse. •/Schubert and Beethoven both set to music many a famous poem by Goethe and Schiller./

[set to rights] See: PUT TO RIGHTS.

[set tongues wagging] See: TONGUES WAG.

[setup]{v.} 1. To provide the money for the necessities for. •/When he was twenty-one, his father set him up in the clothing business./ 2. To establish; start. •/The government has set up many hospitals for veterans of the armed forces./ 3. To make ready for use by putting the parts together or into their right place. •/The men set up the new printing press./ 4. To bring into being; cause. •/Ocean tides are set up by the pull between earth and the moon./ 5. To claim; pretend. •/He set himself up to be a graduate of a medical school, but he was not./ 6. To harm someone by entrapment or some other ruse. •/Joe was actually innocent of the robbery, but his "trusted friends" set him up, so the police found the gun in his car./

[setup]{n. phr.} (stress on "set") 1. Arrangement, management, circumstances. •/Boy, you really have a wonderful setup in your office!/ •/I just can’t do my work in such a messy setup!/ 2. Financial arrangement. •/It is a fairly generous setup sending your uncle $1,000 a month./

[set upon] See: SET ON.

[seven] See: AT SIXES AND SEVENS.

[seventh heaven]{n. phr.}, {literary} The pinnacle of happiness. •/We were in seventh heaven when the helicopter flew us over the magnificent Grand Canyon./

[sewed up]{adj. phr.}, {informal} Won or arranged as you wish; decided. •/They thought they had the game sewed up, but the other team won it with a touchdown in the last quarter./ •/Dick thought he had the job sewed up, but another boy got it./ Compare: IN THE BAG.

[sexual harassment]{n. phr.} The act of constantly making unwanted advances of a sexual nature for which the offended party may seek legal redress. •/The court fined Wilbur Catwallender $750,000 for sexual harassment of two of his female employees./

[shack up with]{v. phr.}, {slang} To move in with (someone) of the opposite sex without marrying the person. •/Did you know that Ollie and Sue aren’t married? They just decided to shack up for a while./ See: LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING.

[shadow] See: AFRAID OF ONE’S SHADOW, EYE SHADOW.

[shaggy dog (story)]{n. phr.} A special kind of joke whose long and often convoluted introduction and development delay the effect of the punch line. •/Uncle Joe only seems to bore his audiences with his long shaggy dog jokes, for when he comes to the long-awaited punch line, he gets very few laughs./

[shake] See: MORE THAN ONE COULD SHAKE A STICK AT.

[shake a leg]{v. phr.}, {slang} To go fast; hurry. •/Shake a leg! The bus won’t wait./ Compare: STEP ON IT.

[shakedown]{n.} 1. A test. •/Let’s take the new car out and give it a shakedown./ 2. An act of extorting money by threatening. •/It was a nasty shakedown, to get $500 from the old man, promising to protect him./

[shake down]{v. phr.} 1. To cause to fall by shaking. •/He shook some pears down from the free./ 2. {informal} To test, practice, get running smoothly (a ship or ship’s crew). •/The captain shook down his new ship on a voyage to the Mediterranean Sea./ 3. {slang} To get money from by threats. •/The gangsters shook the store owner down every month./

[shake in one’s shoes] or [shake in one’s boots]{v. phr.}, {informal} To be very much afraid. •/The robber shook in his boots when the police knocked on his door./

[shake off]{v.}, {informal} To get away from when followed; get rid of; escape from. •/A convict escaped from prison and shook off the officers trying to follow him./ •/Tom could not shake off his cold./

[shake the dust from one’s feet]{v. phr.} To depart or leave with some measure of disgust or displeasure. •/Jim was so unhappy in our small, provincial town that he was glad to shake the dust from his feet and move to New York./

[shake up]{v.}, {informal} To bother; worry; disturb. •/The notice about a cut in pay shook up everybody in the office./