setter

plural setters

1. A typesetter.

   Any query to the setter is required to be addressed as such (e.g., "Setter: Please check"); otherwise it will be treated as a query to the author.

   Synonyms: compositor

2. One who sets something, such as a challenge or an examination.

   The exam was so hard we assumed the question setter must have been in a bad mood.

   3 more examples

   The setter of this crossword has been known to throw us all for a loop occasionally.

   In this sample, twenty of the twenty-seven fire setters received a primary or secondary diagnosis of conduct disorder, compared with only eleven of twenty-seven nonsetters.

   2000, Rita Wicks-Nelson, Allen C. Israel, Behavior Disorders of Childhood, page 188

   One of the most admired and best-known crossword setters in the English language, Graham was known for his idiosyncratic style and extended anagrams.

   2013 November 26, John Plunkett, “Rev John Graham, aka crossword setter Araucaria, dies aged 92”, in The Guardian

3. Any of several long-haired breeds of hunting dog that set when they have scented game.

   She has a spaniel and a red setter.

   1 more example

   The two Gordon setters came obediently to heel. Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home. He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago.

   1931, Francis Beeding, “7/2”, in The Norwich Victims

4. ball gamesThe player who is responsible for setting, or passing, the ball to teammates for an attack.
5. object-oriented programmingA function used to modify the value of some property of an object, contrasted with the getter.

   Synonyms: mutator

6. hobbiesA game or match that lasts a certain number of sets.

   1 more example

   It was desperately close until all but the closing moments, and for that we had the 32nd-ranked [Julien] Benneteau to thank for bringing the fight out in [Roger] Federer, whose thirst for these long battles has waned over the past couple of years. For a player regarded by many as the greatest of all time his record in completed five-setters is ordinary: now 20 wins, 16 losses.

   2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 15 Nov 2016

7. One who hunts victims for sharpers.

   O, 'tis our setter. I know his voice

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]

8. One who adapts words to music in composition.
9. A shallow seggar for porcelain.
10. UKobsoleteslangA shill bidder at an auction.

present singular third person setters · participle present settering · participle past settered · past settered

1. UKdialectaltransitiveTo cut the dewlap (of a cow or ox), and insert a seton, so as to cause an issue.

1. A surname.