set foot

English

Alternative forms

• step foot

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

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

1. (idiomatic, rhetorical with 'in') To enter
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 4, in Moonfleet (fiction):

     Yet had I scarce set foot in the passage when I stopped, remembering how once already this same evening I had played the coward, and run home scared with my own fears.

2. (idiomatic, rhetorical with 'on') To step onto

   After the boat capsized, I thought that I would never set foot on dry land again.

   • 2009 May 13, Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Up, spoken by newsreel announcer (David Kaye), Walt Disney Pictures & Pixar Animation Studios:

     Who would dare set foot on this inhospitable summit?

Usage notes

Not to be confused with set on foot.

Translations

to enter

• Azerbaijani: ayaq basmaq
• Finnish: astua jalallaan
• French: mettre les pieds (fr), mettre le pied (fr), poser le pied (fr), poser les pieds
• Spanish: poner el pie

to step onto

• Azerbaijani: ayaq basmaq
• French: poser le pied (fr), poser les pieds

Anagrams

• footest