set out

present singular third person sets out · participle present setting out

1. transitiveTo explain something, or give exact details, usually in writing.

   This contract sets out all the terms of the agreement as we discussed.

2. intransitiveTo go out, leave.

   Tomorrow we set out for America.

   1 more example

   I had been calling Nobs in the meantime and was about to set out in search of him, fearing, to tell the truth, to do so lest I find him mangled and dead among the trees of the acacia grove, when he suddenly emerged from among the boles, his ears flattened, his tail between his legs and his body screwed into a suppliant S. He was unharmed except for minor bruises; but he was the most chastened dog I have ever seen.

   1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter V, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC

   Synonyms: set forth, take out

3. intransitiveTo start an activity with the intention of finishing it.

   Many young people set out to change the world.

   1 more example

   He set out with the aim of writing the book in less than 3 months.

4. UKtransitiveTo position, to put in a position

   1 more example

   Following the acquisition of Di María, a winger, there was almost as much interest in the manner in which Van Gaal would set out his team as there was in the personnel. It was probably as well, considering only the goalkeeper David De Gea was retained from the XI who started Sunday’s draw at Sunderland.

   2014 August 26, Richard Rae, “Manchester United humbled by MK Dons after Will Grigg hits double”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2016

5. obsoletetransitivemediaTo arrange the necessary type into a printing press in preparation to run it.