set light

English

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) Followed by to: Synonym of set fire (“to cause to be on fire, to set alight”).
   • 1981, Ellis Peters, The Leper Of Saint Giles, pages 7-8:

     He was expecting, rather, that in his absence some vessel full of precious liquid would be broken, some syrup left to boil over, some pan to burn dry, in his workshop in the herb-gardens, or else that his brazier would be fed too generously, and set light to the parcels of dried herbs rustling overhead and, in the worst case, to the whole workshop.