lay siege

lay siege (third-person singular simple present lays siege, present participle laying siege, simple past and past participle laid siege)

1. (intransitive) Chiefly followed by against or to: to engage in a siege; to besiege.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 4:2:

     And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.

   • 1994, John H. Makin, Norman J. Ornstein, Debt and Taxes: How America Got into Its Budget Mess and What We Can Do about It, New York, NY: Times Books, →ISBN, page 52:

     In 1574, the duke of Alva laid siege to Leiden to gain control of Holland's most beautiful and prosperous city. To relieve the siege, William of Orange and his followers opened the city's protective dikes to flush out—literally—the surrounding Spanish forces.

   • 2019 May 5, Danette Chavez, “Campaigns are Waged On and Off the Game Of Thrones Battlefield (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 28 January 2021:

     And Jon—sweet, dull Jon—almost immediately shares his big secret with his sister-cousins, even though it means shattering the appearance of a united front, which is kind of important, since they are about to attempt to lay siege to King’s Landing.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To attack continually over a long period.

   They’re laying siege to all we hold dear.

   • 2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

     The Reds laid siege to the Albion goal throughout, with Jordan Henderson striking the underside of the bar and Dirk Kuyt the inside of the post.