set on foot

verb

To originate; to put into action.

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Meanings

verbset on foot (third-person singular simple present sets on foot, present participle setting on foot, simple past and past participle set on foot)

present singular third person sets on foot · participle present setting on foot · alternative set afoot

  1. transitiveTo originate; to put into action.

    Meanwhile that little disappointment made her delight the more in Sir James Chettam's readiness to set on foot the desired improvements.

    1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Book I, chapter 3

Origin

Compare the identical French mettre sur pied, of which this may be a calque.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish panna alulle
  • panna alulleTranslations
French mettre sur pied
  • mettre sur piedTranslations
Welsh gosod ar droed
  • gosod ar droedTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

set on foot. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/set%20on%20foot

MLA

“set on foot.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/set%20on%20foot. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “set on foot,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/set%20on%20foot.

Source: set on foot on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.