In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
besiege, beleaguer, surround, hem in, circumvent
(verb) surround so as to force to give up; “The Turks besieged Vienna”
tease, badger, pester, bug, beleaguer
(verb) annoy persistently; “The children teased the boy because of his stammer”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
beleaguer (third-person singular simple present beleaguers, present participle beleaguering, simple past and past participle beleaguered)
To besiege; to surround with troops.
To vex, harass, or beset.
To exhaust.
• beleagure
Source: Wiktionary
Be*lea"guer, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beleaguered; p. pr. & vb. n. Beleaguering.] Etym: [D. belegeren (akin to G. belagern, Sw. belägra, Dan. beleire); pref. be- = E. be- + leger bed, camp, army, akin to E. lair. See Lair.]
Definition: To surround with an army so as to preclude escape; to besiege; to blockade. The wail of famine in beleaguered towns. Longfellow.
Syn.
– To block up; environ; invest; encompass.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
21 April 2025
(noun) a reference work (often in several volumes) containing articles on various topics (often arranged in alphabetical order) dealing with the entire range of human knowledge or with some particular specialty
In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.