siege

Preposition: of

• castle: An event to mark the anniversary of the siege of the castle, which brought about the Battle of Winceby on 11 October 1643.
• city: This slab shows a scene from the siege of a city.

Converse of object

• lay: Greeks, you remember, laid siege to the city of Troy for over ten years.
• withstand: The castle withstood two sieges in the medieval era.
• relieve: His request to relieve the siege had been denied.
• abandon: In the Midlands, the Royalists abandon the siege of Warwick Castle on hearing news of the approach of the parliamentary relief force.
• endure: The Rock has endured many sieges, the most famous being the Great Siege of 1783.
• lie: If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.

Adjective modifier

• protracted: As the morning wore on and the likelihood of a protracted siege became obvious, an appeal for reinforcements was made to the military.
• bloody: After a bloody siege during which Townshend's troops ate their horses, the Turks prevailed and Townshend surrendered.
• lengthy: La Rochelle managed to stay Protestant and independent until 1625 when a lengthy siege ended with its capture.
• armed: As Home Secretary, he led the police in tackling an armed siege.
• constant: I have observed the minutiae of this constant siege.

Modifies a noun

• mentality: The Blue Falcon Inn showed the signs of the siege mentality that existed in the village.
• warfare: Siege warfare, waged to win a castle or a walled town or city, was a frequent occurrence during the Middle Ages.
• cannon: The raiders overran the Royalist gun emplacements and succeeded in hauling off several great siege cannon.
• tower: The framework of the siege tower was covered in animal hides.
• artillery: They were mounted on ships and used as coastal batteries and also siege artillery.
• weapon: The Siege Tower was an invaluable Medieval siege attack weapon.