Defn: A siege. [Obs.] Chaucer.
ASSIENTIST
As`si*en"tist, n. Etym: [Cf. F. assientiste, Sp. asentista.]
Defn: A shareholder of the Assiento company; one of the parties to the Assiento contract. Bancroft.
ASSIENTO As`si*en"to, n. Etym: [Sp. asiento seat, contract or agreement, fr. asentar to place on a chair, to adjust, to make an agreement; a (L. ad) + sentar, a participial verb; as if there were a L. sedentare to cause to sit, fr. sedens, sedentis, p. pr. of sed to sit.]
Defn: A contract or convention between Spain and other powers for furnishing negro slaves for the Spanish dominions in America, esp. the contract made with Great Britain in 1713.
ASSIGN
As*sign", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Assigned; p. pr. & vb. n. Assigning.]
Etym: [OE. assignen, asignen, F. assigner, fr. L. assignare; ad +
signare to mark, mark out, designate, signum mark, sign. See Sign.]
1. To appoint; to allot; to apportion; to make over. In the order I assign to them. Loudon. The man who could feel thus was worthy of a better station than that in which his lot had been assigned. Southey. He assigned to his men their several posts. Prescott.
2. To fix, specify, select, or designate; to point out authoritatively or exactly; as, to assign a limit; to assign counsel for a prisoner; to assign a day for trial. All as the dwarf the way to her assigned. Spenser. It is not easy to assign a period more eventful. De Quincey.
3. (Law)
Defn: To transfer, or make over to another, esp. to transfer to, and vest in, certain persons, called assignees, for the benefit of creditors. To assign dower, to set out by metes and bounds the widow's share or portion in an estate. Kent.