onset

Etymology

From on- +‎ set. Compare Old English onsettan (“to impose; oppress, bear down”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒnˌsɛt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɔnˌsɛt/
• (US, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑnˌsɛt/

Noun

onset (plural onsets)

1. A rushing or setting upon; an attack; an assault; a storming; especially, the assault of an army.
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare,

     The onset and retire / Of both your armies.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Wordsworth,

     Who on that day the word of onset gave.

2. (medicine) The initial phase of a disease or condition, in which symptoms first become apparent.
3. (phonology) The initial portion of a syllable, preceding the syllable nucleus.

   Antonym: coda

4. (acoustics) The beginning of a musical note or other sound, in which the amplitude rises from zero to an initial peak.
5. (obsolete) A setting about; a beginning.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Francis Bacon,

     There is surely no greater wisdom than well to time the beginnings and onsets of things.

6. (obsolete) Anything set on, or added, as an ornament or as a useful appendage.
   • William Shakespeare , Titus Andronicus: Act 1, Scene 1

     And will with deeds requite thy gentleness:

     And, for an onset, Titus, to advance

     Thy name and honourable family,

     Lavinia will I make my empress.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

7. the start (of something)
   • 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:

     Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.

Verb

onset (third-person singular simple present onsets, present participle onsetting, simple past and past participle onset)

1. (obsolete) To assault; to set upon.
2. (obsolete) To set about; to begin.

Anagrams

• 'onest, Eston, SONET, Stone, notes, onest, set on, seton, steno, steno-, stone, tones