subs. (colloquial).—A pointed and persistent effort or attempt.
1781. G. PARKER, A View of Society, I., 196. He then gave me what I term the DEAD SET with his eye.
1877. W. H. THOMSON, Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iii. 145. He was made a DEAD SET at by some other prisoners, who schooled him for a career of vice and crime that assuredly would bring him there again.
1889. Globe, 2 Nov., p. 6, col. 2. Certain persons of the ‘thoughtful’ kind, says Rod and Gun, are making a DEAD SET against the field sports of Britain.
